


True Love Will Find You in the End

by chamel



Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Angst, Angst and Feels, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, BAMF Carol Danvers, BAMF Gamora (Marvel), Canon Compliant, Comics/Movie Crossover, Denial of Feelings, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Early Mornings, F/M, Falling In Love, Feelings, Feelings Realization, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Kree Invasion, Nick Fury Knows All, POV Carol, POV Gamora (Marvel), POV Thor (Marvel), Past Relationship(s), Slow Burn, Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie) Spoilers, Strong Female Characters, Team as Family, asgardians of the galaxy - Freeform, denial ain't just a river in egypt, women and men can't be friends because the sex part always gets in the way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2020-06-25 08:18:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 73,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19741771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chamel/pseuds/chamel
Summary: Carol agrees to help convince Gamora to join the Guardians, but ends up finding more than she bargained for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> More Thor/Carol! This time with additional Quill/Gamora. This is a standalone work, set six months after the events of Avengers: Endgame.
> 
> Chapter 8 contains spoilers for Spider-man: Far From Home.
> 
> Title from the Daniel Johnston song. Lyrics are given in the first chapter.

True love will find you in the end

You'll find out just who was your friend

Don't be sad, I know you will

But don't give up until

True love will find you in the end

This is a promise with a catch

Only if you're looking can it find you

'Cause true love is searching too

But how can it recognize you

If you don't step out into the light, the light

Don't be sad I know you will

Don't give up until

True love will find you in the end

RIP Daniel Johnston Sept 12, 2019

****

Carol looked at the clock hanging in the dingy bar. They were late. They were late and she had so many better things she could be doing. Well, they had until she finished her drink, and then she was out of there. There were only a few others in the bar, drinking watery beer and weak drinks as they listened to whatever passed as music in this system. She couldn’t imagine why they had chosen this place, of all places, to meet when there was a perfectly acceptable bar on the next planet over.

She had about one swallow of liquor left when Thor finally walked through the door. He had cleaned up somewhat in the six months since she had last seen him on Earth: beard trimmed, hair just barely hitting his shoulders and half pulled up away from his face. The activity of working with the Guardians had helped him lose some weight, though he was still a bit chubby around the middle. Catching her eye, he walked across to her table and slid into a seat across from her.

“Where’s the rest?” she asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Just me,” he said without further explanation. He tried to call the bartender over to the table, but the man stared at him blankly.

“They don’t do table service in this shithole,” Carol snorted. Thor ignored her, though, and eventually succeeded in getting the bartender to walk over to their table.

“Uhhhh can I help you?”

Thor grinned. “A pint of your finest ale, good sir. And another for the lady.”

“We don’t…” the man started, then looked from Thor to Carol and back again. He apparently thought better of protesting and went to get the drinks. They sat in silence for a few minutes and Carol tried to figure out what was going on. She had assumed the message came from the Guardians, but if so why was only Thor here? Her thoughts were interrupted as the bartender returned and dropped the drinks on the table, liquid sloshing over the brims. He stalked away and Thor grabbed his beer to take a big swig.

Carol watched him for a moment, then asked, “Why in the universe did you choose this place?”

“Don’t ask me, it was Rocket’s choice. Darkest Hel, that’s terrible,” he grimaced as he set the beer down.

“So are you going to tell me why I’m here?"

Thor took another swallow of beer. “We need your help.”

“I figured,” she replied dryly. “What’s the job?”

“It’s not a job, really. It’s Gamora.”

Carol cocked an eyebrow. “What about her? Last I heard she didn’t want anything to do with you.”

“That’s the problem,” Thor sighed, “Quill is a mess. He’s distracted, sloppy. Keeps getting himself into trouble and someone else has to bail him out. We spend excessive amounts of time following her trail. Rocket and I have decided something has to be done.”

“I fail to see how I’m necessary for this. What about her sister?”

“Nebula has tried many times, but in 2014 she and Gamora were not on the best of terms. Gamora doesn’t trust her.”

“And you think she’ll trust me?” Carol asked, a bemused expression playing on her face.

He shrugged. “Your a neutral third party. We don’t have a lot of other ideas.”

“Ok, so what do I get out of this?”

“We’ll owe you one?” he replied hopefully.

She suppressed the urge to tell him that it was unlikely she would need their help. Well, having people owe you a favor wasn’t the worst thing. “What the hell, I’ll try,” she said finally.

A wide grin lit up Thor’s face. “Thank you, really. I can’t deal with mopey Quill too much longer,” he admitted, causing Carol to laugh. After a moment he ventured, “so, how have you been?”

“I’m good,” she replied simply. They weren’t what you would consider friends; they were barely acquaintances. Besides his singular declaration that he ‘liked this one’ (whatever the hell that had meant) five and a half years ago, they had barely spoken. She shot the rest of her drink and set the glass on the table as she pushed away and stood. “Thanks for the drink. I gotta get going.”

“Right, of course. Well, see you around,” he said awkwardly, giving a little wave at her retreating form.

****

“I’ll have what she’s having,” Carol called to the bartender as she slid onto a stool next to the assassin. Gamora shot her a look, but said nothing. Well, this was going to be fun. The drink arrived and Carol realized she had no idea what she had just ordered. The liquid was dark and murky. Not usually shy about drinks, she sipped it gingerly then erupted in a coughing fit. Whatever it was, it was foul. It had served it’s purpose, though, because Gamora was cracking up at her distress.

“Not familiar with Kyraxian moonshine, I take it,” the green woman eventually said.

Carol wiped tears out of the corner of her eye. “I have not previously had the pleasure.” _Ice is officially broken_ , she thought, then stuck out her hand. “Carol.”

“I remember you,” Gamora said with a smirk, but she shook Carol’s hand anyway. “Hard to forget someone able to sucker punch Thanos.”

Carol called the bartender back over and ordered something more to her taste. As the bartender walked off she nudged the offending drink toward Gamora. “My treat.”

The assassin took the glass and sipped it with pleasure. “It’s an acquired taste,” she said in response to Carol’s incredulous expression. “So what is it? What you came over to talk to me about.”

Carol took a sip of her new drink and relished the taste. She regarded the woman next to her: tall and lean, armed to the hilt, with a dangerous look in her eye. She wondered if it was even possible that this Gamora would ever be like the one the Guardians had lost. But she had promised Thor she would try.

“I’m going to cut to the chase: the Guardians want you to join them. They asked me to try to talk to you.”

Gamora gave an exaggerated eye roll. “I’m not that person. They don’t get it, none of them.”

“Look, I understand. More than you know. But I guess I’m just here to ask that you give them a shot. Just, hang out with them for a couple of weeks. That shouldn’t be that bad?” That was it, that was her attempt. She could hardly get that out; she knew that in Gamora’s place she would tell them all to fuck off.

Gamora was silent for a moment, staring into her drink. “I can’t do it alone.”

“What?” Carol asked, confused. Wasn’t that the point? That she wouldn’t be alone with the Guardians?

“If I go there—if I stay with them—I’ll be the outsider. They’ll treat me like the person they remember, not the person I am. I need someone else.”

“Well, Thor’s only been with them six months…” Carol started.

Gamora cut her off, shaking her head. “No. I’ll give them a chance… if you come with me.”

Carol stared at her, blinking in incomprehension. “I’m sorry, what?“

“Two weeks. You can do that, right?” she said, smirking. “Care to make it interesting?”

This was getting stranger and stranger. “A bet?”

“A thousand units. If I tap out first, you win. And vice versa. If by some miracle we both last two weeks, it’s a draw.”

This was a terrible idea, but Carol’s competitive streak was getting the better of her. Surely she could last longer than Gamora. She’d spent periods with Rocket and Nebula in the time after the snap, it couldn’t be much worse. Plus she didn’t usually get paid much for the jobs she ran and a thousand units could go far. Gamora was staring at her, awaiting her reply. Finally Carol stuck out her hand.

“Deal,” she said as the other woman grabbed it tightly.


	2. Chapter 2

Gamora had second thoughts, and third and fourth, on their way to find the Guardians. The bet kept her from pulling out, and more than once she wondered what she had been thinking. Part of her was curious, knowing what her future self had become. It was as if she needed an excuse, and she had found one in Carol. She glanced over at the other woman and wondered how she was feeling about their venture. Carol’s face hadn’t lost it’s grim expression since they had departed, and Gamora thought she probably had this in the bag.

They found the Benatar docked at a seedy spaceport, taking on fuel. Gamora and Carol stood below the ship and gave each other a look as if to say, ‘this is your fault.’ Their boots clunked on the ramp as they slowly ascended.

“Who the hell is that?” a voice called from within the ship at the sound. “You pick up some chicks, Quill?”

“Ha ha, very funny,” another voice replied.

There were the sounds of several people moving around the ship as they walked around to look at who was boarding their ship. Then there was silence. Gamora looked up to see Quill standing at the top of the ramp, stunned.  
  
“Gamora?” he whispered, and she tried not to meet his eyes. This was so much more loaded than just coming back to friends. Instead she looked at Nebula, who looked surprised but pleased.

Then the heavy viking—was it Thor?—came barreling out from behind the others, a huge grin on his face. “You came!” He approached Carol and clapped a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” she said wryly, “It’s just for two weeks.”

Thor wasn’t dissuaded. “Still, progress! Come on board!”

The other Guardians were still standing agog, staring at them, and Gamora was grateful that someone was doing something. She walked up closer to the rest of them, and Quill found his voice again.

“Is it true? You’re staying for two weeks?” He was staring at her with the biggest puppy dog eyes and she couldn’t take it much longer.

“If I make it that long,” she mumbled, turning away. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Nebula smirk.

“You came all the way out here just to deliver her?” Rocket asked Carol.

The woman smirked beside her. “I hope you missed me, fur face, ‘cause you’re stuck with me for two weeks too.”

“That’s just great,” Rocket said sarcastically, but Gamora could tell there was no malice behind it, “good thing we have a giant ship with tons of rooms. Oh wait, we don’t.”

“You want me to stay, she stays too,” Gamora put in, crossing her arms in front of her. No way she was going to be stuck with these loonies without backup.

Rocket turned to Carol. “Well I guess you’re bunking with the new guy,” he said, a devilish expression on his face.

Gamora watched as Carol figured out what he meant. “What—what about her?”

“Gamora can stay with me,” Nebula said, “but there’s only one extra bed in my room.”

Gamora nodded. If it was 2014, she wouldn’t dream of sleeping in the same room as Nebula for fear of losing parts. But this was a very different Nebula in front of her, and they were still sisters.

Carol grabbed Gamora’s arm, dragging her half way back down the ramp. “Oh _hell_ no,” she hissed. “I did not sign up for this.”

Gamora smirked and shrugged. “C’mon, it’s not that bad. I bet he’d be pretty hot if he lost some kilograms. But I guess if you want to back out…” She watched as Carol’s eyes went wide and a look of determination came over her face.

“No way,” she replied, crossing her arms in front of her. “I’ve fought Vrellnexians, I can handle sharing a room with the god of thunder.”

“Better hope he doesn’t snore like thunder,” Gamora teased.

“I’ll just wait until you’re sleeping with Quill and then I’ll take the bed in Nebula’s room,” Carol shot back with a wicked grin.

Gamora narrowed her eyes. “The heat-death of the universe will come before that happens.” With that she turned and stalked back up the ramp.

****

Thor opened the door to his—their—room. It was small, with two beds set into one wall and a small desk on another. Stormbreaked leaned in a corner; Carol hadn't realized he had brought the weapon with him. The bottom bed was disheveled, blankets askew, but the top bunk was pristine. Carol tossed her small bag onto it, then turned to look at Thor.

“It’s not much…” he said uncertainly, one hand tugging at his short beard.

Carol gave a half grin. “It’s fine. Though I can’t understand why you left a kingdom for this.”  
  
“You should have seen my house in New Asgard,” he laughed. “This is a big upgrade.”

There was more to this story, she knew, but she didn’t want to push. “Fair enough. Is there a bathroom nearby…?”

“Through this door…” Thor began, indicating a small door on the other side of the room. She moved to the right thinking he would pass on the left, but he went right too and they ended up pressed against each other in the small space.

Carol pulled back quickly and saw his cheeks turned pink. To her dismay she felt her own face get warm as well. Quickly she looked away and headed toward the back door, eager to get away from the awkward situation. Two weeks of this?

She left the bathroom through another door and took the opportunity to wander about the ship. She’d been in it before, but never for that long. She was looking at an electrical panel when she heard a familiar voice behind her.

“I have to admit this was unexpected.”  
  
Carol turned to see Nebula, arms crossed and leaning against a wall. “I’m just as surprised as you. Do you think it will work?”

Nebula shrugged. “It’s more than anything we’ve gotten before. I’m hopeful.”  
  
“I’d be lying if I told you I don’t have a financial interest in seeing Gamora not make it to two weeks… but really I want her to. I hope you guys can figure it out.”

“Thank you for doing this. Was this Rocket’s plan or Gamora’s idea?”

Carol laughed. “This one’s on Gamora. I have no idea how she came up with it.”

“Well it’s good to see you again,” Nebula replied. “I hope you don’t regret your time in this ship of fools.”

“As long as we can stay busy. Any jobs?”

Nebula nodded. “We leave tomorrow. Get some rest tonight, if you can,” she said with smirk.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Carol replied, narrowing her eyes.

“New bed, lots of people around. I expect you will be a bit unsettled, is all. What did you think I meant?”

Carol shook her head as if to clear it. “Nothing, nothing.”

****

It was late when Thor walked past her where she sat in one of the cockpit seats. She seemed keyed up, unsettled. He knew this was odd for her, but surely it couldn’t be that bad. “I’m heading to bed. Do you need anything?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No, I’m good. Good night.”

“Night,” he replied, hesitating for a minute before walking back toward the room. He left a light near the desk on for her as he got into bed, then found himself staring at the ceiling above his bed. He had never expected this to be the result of his request. Carol was a bit of an enigma; back when they had first met he was too wrapped up in his own misery to get to know anyone new, and she had only spoken to Fury at the funeral before she took off again. Rocket had told him that she was cocky and arrogant, but he expected that was a typical butting of heads of two type-A captains. He supposed he was finally going to be getting to know her soon. Eventually he felt his eyelids get heavy, and he drifted to sleep.

When he woke up again the light was still on, and Carol wasn’t in the top bunk. He rubbed his eyes groggily and walked back out into the common areas of the ship. Eventually he found Carol sitting in the same chair he had left her in, slumped over and asleep.

“Carol,” he whispered. When she didn’t answer he put a hand lightly on her shoulder. No reaction. He gave a little shake, but no reaction. She was out cold. Thor looked around, but there was no one else awake. This certainly wasn’t the best place to sleep, so he made a decision. Bending down he scooped her up into his arms. As he stood up she mumbled something, grabbed onto his shirt, and buried her face in his shoulder. For a moment he froze, thinking she was waking up, but she was still asleep. He carried her back to the room, then laid her on his bed. He wasn’t going to be able to get her up on the top bunk, so this was the only option. As he put her down she mumbled again, then managed to snag his hand as he was pulling away. He tried to pull it out of her grasp but she was crazy strong.

“Don’t leave,” she mumbled. Thor froze again but she wasn’t awake this time either. He tried to withdraw his hand again, but it was no good. He wasn’t very well going to lie in the bed with her—it was a pretty small bed anyway—and he couldn’t get away to get into the top bunk. He snagged a pillow from the top bunk and lay down on the floor next to the bed, trying to get some sleep.

****

When Carol woke up she wasn’t sure where she was. It took her a minute to realize she was in the room she was supposed to be sharing with Thor, though she had no memory of how she got there. The sheets smelled like someone else; a spicy-musky scent with a tinge of ozone. She realized she was in the bottom bunk, rather than the top. And then there was someone’s hand in hers. She looked at the two hands, uncomprehending. Her eyes followed the arm attached and she leaned over the edge of the bed. Below her Thor lay on the ground. Startled, she let go of his hand and it dropped hard onto his chest. He started awake and sat up quickly, looking at her.

“How—how did—“ she stammered.

Thor looked somewhat sheepish. “I woke in the middle of the night and found you asleep in a chair. I brought you back here, but—uh—you wouldn’t let go of my hand. You have quite the grip.”

“Yeah,” she said absently, staring at her hand as she flexed her fingers. “Thanks. Sorry you lost your bed.”

“Not a problem,” he replied as he pushed himself off the ground. Then he groaned and grabbed his back.

Carol swung her feet over the edge of the bed. “You should have left me in the chair.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine. 1500 years is catching up to me I guess.” Thor stretched and headed toward the bathroom.

Carol took the opportunity to flee from the room and any further discussion on the matter. She wasn’t quite sure where she was going, but surely she could find something to do. Rounding a corner she found Gamora, apparently with a similar objective.

“Gamora. How was your night? Ready to jump ship?” Carol teased. The assassin looked a bit sallow, as if she hadn’t slept too well.

Gamora smirked. “Apparently not as good as yours.”

“What—?” Carol replied, completely confused. She turned and caught sight of herself in a shiny surface: hair tousled and standing up every which way. “No! No,” she objected, rapidly running her hands through her hair, “I just didn’t comb my hair this morning.” She looked back at Gamora, who was still smirking. Carol resisted the urge to wipe the smirk off her face. “As if I would—? with—? No.”

“Whatever you say.”

“And what kept you up? Spent some time with Quill?”

Gamora rolled her eyes. “I don’t sleep well in foreign ships. And I’m pretty sure Quill is terrified of me. He hasn’t spoken to me since we got on the ship.”

“Well you are pretty terrifying,” Carol said with a grin.

“And I like it that way.” Gamora was silent for a moment, then she ventured, “Do you think it’s inevitable?”

Carol cocked an eyebrow in curiosity “What?”

“Falling in love with someone. Is it pre-destined? What if you’re a different person when you meet them? Or they are?”

Carol didn’t quite know what to say. This sudden philosophical turn in Gamora surprised her, especially the topic. “I wouldn’t know,” she replied eventually, “I don’t have the best history with relationships.”

“He is a different person than when you first met him,” a voice said from down the hall, “but that’s a good thing.”

Carol and Gamora both turned to see Nebula, leaning against the wall. “How long have you been listening?” Gamora demanded.

Nebula shrugged. “Long enough. As much as it pains me to say this, who he is now is the person you fell in love with. Don’t ask me how or why, but it’s true. You might want to take a look at some of the ship’s logs; we have the old ones from the Milano.”  
  
“And what’s your interest in this?” Gamora replied, arms crossed defensively.

“Not having to hear Quill go on and on about you all the time. I don’t care if you tell him to get lost at the end, but you have to give him a chance otherwise he’ll never stop trying.” Nebula turned and started walking away before Gamora had a chance to respond. Before she disappeared out of view she stopped and said over her shoulder, “By the way we leave in 10. I suggest you get ready for battle.”


	3. Chapter 3

The battle had devolved into nothing so much as a game of keep away. Nebula had the obelisk they were hired to retrieve at the moment, but she was no where near the entrance to the tunnel that would take them to where the ship was hidden. Carol watched as Rocket flew by and grabbed it from her, then shot off in another direction. She blasted enemy ships and warriors idly from her position floating above them, her thoughts elsewhere. Unexpectedly, she found herself thinking about what Gamora had said earlier. Not about whether falling in love was inevitable, really, but just that Gamora was even considering it. She thought Gamora was like her, not interested in those kind of relationships. Then again, the Gamora from their timeline had apparently had fallen in love before she’d been killed. Could this one do so as well? Carol, on the other hand… well she’d had her flings, and even extended dalliances, but true love? It had certainly never found her before.

“Was that a _yawn_?” Rocket said has he flew past her, no longer carrying the obelisk.

Carol shrugged. “Are you gonna wrap this up anytime soon?”

“We can’t go until sparkle fingers over there disables the force field,” he replied, gesturing to where Thor was dropping lightning bolts on a machine. “You _could_ help.”

“I am helping, saving your asses,” she retorted, but flew off toward Thor anyway.

When she got closer, she saw why he was struggling: the generator was covered in a vibranium shield. The continuous barrage of lightning had opened a small crack but it would be a while at this rate.

“C’mon, it can’t be that hard!” she teased, hovering a safe distance away.

Thor gave her an exasperated look. “I’d like to see you try!”

“What about hitting it with the axe?” she suggested, gesturing to Stormbreaker.

He shook his head. “You don’t want to know what happens when vibranium meets uru.”

“Get back!” she called to him, and he retreated behind the corner of a nearby building.

She generated a monster blast and shot it toward the shield. The crack propagated, but the shield remained intact. Thor peeked around the corner, then looked up at her. One look was all they needed. She started hitting the shield with photon blasts while he brought down bolts, funneling them through Stormbreaker and at the shield. The combined energy was enough. The shield shattered, sending shards of vibranium flying. Carol quickly flew out of range, then returned toward the surface. One photon blast was all it took to kill the generator. Having taken care of that she looked toward where Thor had been. He stood, hunched over and leaning on the axe, grabbing one side. She saw blood leaking through his fingers.

Landing, she put one hand on his shoulder. “Is it bad?”  
  
“Nah, I’m fine,” Thor said, attempting a grin that came out more like a grimace. He looked pale.

“C’mon, let’s get you out of here.” Looking back she saw the team all streaming toward the tunnel; now Drax had the obelisk, carrying it like a football lineman. She grabbed Thor’s arm and pulled it over her shoulder. When she looked at him again he appeared to be barely conscious. Grabbing the axe in her other hand, she groaned as she tried to lift off the ground, mumbling, “This would have been so much easier six years ago.”

She flew as quickly as she dared to the tunnel, but had to land to go through it. He collapsed to the ground. Everyone else was far ahead of her, out of earshot. Swearing, she bent down andopened his jacket, taking a closer look at the wound. A jagged shard of vibranium glinted from just inside the wound, and with every shallow breath a gush of blood came out. She had a choice: pull the vibranium and risk heavier bleeding, or leave it and be unable to put pressure on the wound. She chose the former. Fortunately the flow of blood did not seem to increase. She tore the sash off her hip and wrapped it tight around his abdomen, then hauled Thor over her shoulder. She ran through the tunnel and onto the ship, shoving maps and instruments out of the way as she laid him on a table. Her appearance sent the rest of the Guardians into a flurry of motion.

“What happened?” Mantis asked as she pulled out a med kit.

“Vibranium shard. From the shield,” Carol panted, “Lost a lot of blood.”  
  
“I think most of it’s on you,” Quill replied, and Carol looked down at herself. Her suit was soaked from where she had pulled him over her shoulder, her hands covered. She was still holding Stormbreaker.

“He’s an Asgardian, he’ll heal quickly,” Nebula said, but she worked quickly to close up the wound.

“I… need a shower,” Carol announced, then walked away from the group before anyone could reply.

****

The shard of vibranium glinted in the palm of her hand as she held it in the light. She had unconsciously held onto it after she had pulled it out, and washed free of Thor’s blood it was almost pretty. Her hand snapped shut as the door opened and Thor came in, supported by Drax. Carol lept off the bed and grabbed his other arm to try to help him.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he laughed, shooing her away as he sat down on his bed. He looked better, but still pale and drawn.

“I would not recommend any copulatory activities—“ Drax started.

“DRAX.” Carol interrupted with a glare.

“Thank you Drax, for helping me back here. I’ll be fine, you can go,” Thor said, a wry grin on his face.

Drax gave a short nod, then turned and left the room.

“You brought Stormbreaker,” he said with what sounded like surprise, catching sight of the axe standing in the corner of the room.

Carol raised an eyebrow. “I was pretty sure we’d be going back for it if I hadn’t.”

“You’d be right” Thor chuckled. Then he looked at her and said sincerely, “Thank you for bringing me back to the ship.”  
  
“It was nothing,” Carol said, looking away. Expressions of gratitude sometimes made her uncomfortable, even after getting them so often. Thor hadn’t said anything in reply so she looked back, then followed his gaze to where her suit draped over the chair. The top of it was almost black with dried blood.

“I hope it comes out.”

Carol smiled softly at him. What a thing to be worried about after all that happened. “Don’t worry, it will. I don’t think I’ve ever had that _much_ on it though. How are you doing?”

“I told you, I’m fine,” he said again, but when Carol gave him a look he added, “I’ve been better. I’ve been worse. Don’t worry about me.”

She wasn’t sure she believed him, but that was on him. “Here,” she said as she walked over to him, holding her hand out. He opened his palm and she dropped the vibranium into it. “A memento.”

“Is this the…?”

Carol nodded. “The son of a bitch that sliced you up.”

Thor laughed, which made him grasp his side in pain.

“Ok, no more jokes for you. Get some rest,” she told him as she helped him lay back onto the bed, then left him so he could do so.

****

“Hey, Gamora.”

She looked up from where she had been reading an intergalactic news report to see Quill standing next to her. It had taken him three days to come talk to her. He sat down on a bench across from her and fidgeted awkwardly.

“How are you liking 2023?” he asked when it became clear she wasn’t going to say anything. “Pretty wild, huh? I mean, it’s not that different from 2019, really. But you skipped almost ten years, that’s gotta be weird.”

Gamora watched him as he babbled on, not really listening to what he was saying. She just could not imagine a timeline where she would fall in love with this simpering fool. Not just that, but a timeline where all of these idiots were like a family to her? She thought about asking Nebula how it might have happened, but she had a feeling that Nebula wouldn’t really know either. Gamora tuned back in to hear him telling her about some job that they had done back in 2017.

“… so the Sovereign are still mad, but they haven’t made any moves lately, and we think it’s because…” he trailed off as she stood up.

“Thanks for the info,” she said brusquely, “I need to go… sharpen my knives. See you later.”

She walked away quickly, not looking back to see his reaction. At that moment she just had to get away from the inane chatter. She headed toward Nebula’s room, for lack of any better place to go, and found Nebula was already there. Gamora walked in without saying anything and sat on a chair. She pulled a knife out and a leather strop. She hadn’t intended to actually sharpen her knives when she had told Quill that, but she needed something to do.

“So,” her sister said after a few moments, “how are things going with the idiot?”

Gamora didn’t look at her. “He talked to me today,” she said finally, “the pointless ramblings of a fool.”

“That’s how he always is.”

“Why do you put up with him? Any of them?” Gamora asked, pausing her task to look up at Nebula. She had to admit that her sister seemed relaxed here, and despite her ribbing of her crew mates Nebula seemed to have a sort of affection for them.

Nebula shrugged. “It took me longer than it took you. But I spent years trapped in my own hate and revenge. They can wear on you, to be sure. When you’ve been through a lot together, it doesn’t seem to matter.”

Gamora turned back to her knife, thinking an she slid it along the strop. Two weeks.

****

“This isn’t going to work if you’re going to be an imbecile,” Nebula said as she walked up to where Quill sat, staring at the ground. “Well, more of one than usual.”

He looked up at her. “I’m not! At least, I’m not trying to be. What did she say about me?”  
  
“Nothing really,” she lied. “But you took three days to even talk to her. Did the snap take your guts?”  
  
“No! I’m just… trying to be a better person.”  
  
“Well don’t try so hard,” Nebula said, smirking. “Just be yourself. That’s the person she fell in love with, even if I’ll never understand why.”

“Thanks, I think.”

“C’mon, a message came in a few minutes ago. I think we got a job.”

Quill followed her as she walked into the main room. She triggered the heads up display and pulled the message up along with a map the galaxy. It had come from system a couple of jumps away. Glancing over it, she couldn’t really see why they were needed. Quill had apparently come to the same conclusion.

“Whadda they need us for? This doesn’t really seem like a real job.”  
  
“Money is money,” Rocket said, walking into the room. “Just means it’ll be in our pockets sooner.”

Nebula turned and saw that Drax, Mantis, Groot, and Carol had also joined them. Gamora stood a ways back, observing the proceedings from a shadowed corner.

“Does this seem odd to anyone else? Like it’s not what it seems?” Carol asked the group.

Quill shook his head. “Nah, I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Maybe they’re a pacifist race,” Mantis offered, “and they don’t have any weapons.”

Rocket walked forward toward the cockpit. “No harm in checking it out. Everyone strap in!”


	4. Chapter 4

The planet looked peaceful from above, but then again most of them did. As Carol looked down she couldn’t quash the feeling of unease. She answered a lot of distress signals, even some really easy jobs, but something about this didn’t feel right. She told the crew as much as they strapped on weapons.

“It just… feels like a trap,” she finished.

“What if the Sovereign are behind this?” Gamora spoke up, surprising everyone as she walked out of the shadows.

Quill looked at her in shock. “You _were_ paying attention!”

“I’m just saying I think we should be ready,” Carol said, ignoring him. “If it is the Sovereign, I could go down first. They don’t know me, and they won’t be expecting me.”

“You shouldn’t go alone,” a voice rumbled behind them. They turned to see Thor shuffling into the room.

“You should still be in bed!” Mantis scolded.

Several people moved forward to help him but he waved them off, lowering himself into a seat. “If I stay in bed any longer I’ll go crazy,” he said. “I should be helping.”  
  
“No offense, but I do all my jobs alone,” Carol replied. “I can handle it.”

“I’ll go with you,” Gamora offered abruptly.

“They _will_ recognize you. Your future self was there,” Nebula explained.

Gamora shrugged. “Send me because they’ll be expecting a Guardian. We might not find out their plan if only she goes.”

“No way,” Quill said, shaking his head. “It’s too dangerous.”

Gamora gave him a look that unequivocally said _she_ was dangerous. No one else raised and objection. Gamora pulled the straps on her armor tighter. “Then it’s settled.”

Nebula went over the specifics of the job with them again as the two women finished getting ready. It was simple enough: get in, destroy the unexploded ordinance that had landed unexpectedly on the planet, get paid. Rocket gave Gamora a jet pack and a space suit, and she clipped them to her jacket. Carol and Gamora shot down through the atmosphere toward the coordinates of the ordinance. Heavy tree cover made it difficult to see the device, but a new clearing in the trees pointed to where it had come down.

“We’re approaching the ordinance,” Carol reported as they landed and walked cautiously toward it. It was large and oblong, polished a shiny gold. They could hear a faint ticking as they got close, and when Carol placed her hand in a shallow depression a door slid open in the side. It had been triggered to detonate, and there were only seconds on the clock.

“Go! Go!” Carol yelled, pushing Gamora back. She grabbed the other woman by the jacket and took off… but then nothing happened. They looked at each other, uncertain. Slowly they descended again, watching the device carefully. Instead of exploding it had cracked open and a tendril of smoke curled from within.

“What happened?!?” their communicators were squawking as the Guardians tried to figure out what was going on.

“It’s not a bomb,” Carol said eventually. “I don’t know what it is.” She took a picture of the device and sent it back up to the ship.

“That is definitely a Sovereign thing. They have a hard-on for gold,” Rocket said over the comms.

“Guys, I think you should get out of there,” Quill added, nervousness apparent in his voice.

Carol ignored them. At this point it seemed unlikely that she couldn’t handle it. She leaned over the device, trying to look inside.

That’s when all hell broke loose.

As if hatching from a giant egg, a robot with multiple legs erupted from the crack. Carol backed away a few steps, but then more and more robots came pouring out. She shot the first one with a photon blast which sent it flying backward into the egg, but the damned thing got back up. So they were durable. Behind her, she heard Gamora blasting another one with the gun she had brought, but when she turned she couldn’t see the other woman. There were too many.

“Let’s get airborne!” Carol called to Gamora, who nodded and triggered her jet pack. They hovered in the air above the eerie scene for a few moments, watching the robots crawl on each other. Then, one unfurled wings.

Carol swore. She and Gamora went rocketing up through the atmosphere and into space, hoping the robots wouldn’t have the ability to follow them. They were half right. When the robots left the atmosphere they slowed and became easier targets, but they did seem to have some limited capacity for moving through space. Carol and Gamora spread out on either side of the ship and blasted them as they came closer. Everything seemed to be under control until a robot unexpectedly came through the atmosphere behind Gamora. Carol blasted it, but as it seized it managed to hook Gamora into it’s grasp before it plummeted back toward the surface.

There was a fleeting moment that Carol wondered if she could go after Gamora without losing control of the robot situation in space. Before she could make a decision, however, the ship opened and Quill came rocketing out, heading toward where Gamora had disappeared into the clouds. Moving with somewhat less haste, Rocket and Drax popped out as well and began blasting robots with abandon. With the additional coverage Carol took the opportunity to drop below the clouds and look for Gamora and Quill. Gamora was currently locked in a struggle with the robot that had grabbed her; they flew erratically over the sky as she tried to pull it upward and it tried to pull her toward the surface and the egg-ship-orb thing it had come in. She had apparently lost her gun, and the robots’ smooth metal surfaces did not present much opportunity for knifing. Their close quarters meant Quill couldn’t get a shot off, so he grabbed the robot from behind in an attempt to pry it off.

“Hey! You! Robot! Get off of her!” Carol could hear Quill yelling over the comms. “You wanna take someone, take me!” The robot did not appear to be listening, if that was even a thing it could do.

Finally Gamora found a joint and plunged in a long blade, which caused the robot to convulse. The action freed her from it’s grasp but an unexpected thrashing limb clobbered Quill over the head. He went limp and his grip on the robot loosened as they both fell. Gamora watched for a second and Carol wondered if she was going to go after him, but in a few more moments the assassin was flying toward her holding Quill by the back of his jacket.

“This is fun and all,” Gamora huffed, breathing heavily, “oh wait it’s not. Let’s get out of here?”

Carol nodded. “Get the others inside. I’ll follow behind and make sure none of these things follow us through the jump point.”

Gamora flew off, a still-unconscious Quill in tow.

****

She hauled him up through the air lock and collapsed next to him on the floor of the ship. Her struggle with the robot and having to drag Quill’s dead weight had exhausted her. Rocket and Drax had come in the airlock behind her, and all the Guardians stood around them now as if they weren’t quite sure what to do.

“Go,” she managed. “Danvers will follow.”

“Go where?” Rocket asked.

“Anywhere that’s not here.”

Gamora felt the ship move under her as they powered toward the jump point. She looked over at the unconscious man beside her. What in the universe had he been thinking? She had it under control, and he had gotten himself knocked out. She leaned over him and brushed a bloody lock of hair off his forehead, revealing a small wound beneath already partly crusted over. He wasn’t that bad looking, in truth… His eyelids fluttered and he looked up at her.

“Did I save you?” he asked.

Gamora smiled. “Not exactly. In fact, I saved you.”

“Oh,” Quill replied, looking disappointed.

“But what you did was… sweet. Don’t read too much into that,” she added as she saw his eyes light up. She pushed herself away and up into a sitting position. “C’mon,” she said, holding out a hand, “we need to get strapped in before the jump.”

He took her hand and pulled himself up with a groan. “My head is killing me,” he moaned, cradling the area where he had been hit.

“You’ll be fine.” She steered him over to a seat when it became clear he wouldn’t be moving with any haste. “Buckle in,” she told him, as if reminding a child.

He pulled the belt across him as he looked around at the rest of the crew. “Where’s Danvers?”

“She’s keeping those things from following us through the jump.”

Then there was that feeling where things get stretched and your stomach drops, and they were through the jump. Rocket turned the Benatar back as Gamora walked forward to look out the windows at the jump point. Everyone waited with baited breath for Carol to appear. Seconds ticked into minutes.

“Where is she?” Rocket asked to no one in particular.

What came through the jump looked more like an explosion than a person. Then Carol materialized out of the blast along with scraps of arms and bits of gold metal flying through space. Rocket opened the rear hatch and she came shooting into the ship, still glowing as she ran forward to the cockpit.  
  
“We gotta get to another jump point. I don’t know if those things were able to transmit a location before I destroyed them.”

With Quill strapped in a rear seat, Carol took the other pilot’s seat next to Rocket. Gamora looked back and could tell Quill wanted to object, but was still too out of it to do so. As the ship shot off in the direction of the next jump point Gamora flopped back down into the seat. She hadn’t really bargained on being part of a grudge match when she agreed to this, but at least battles kept them busy. She looked over a Quill again and saw he was passed out. That was no good. Reaching over, she grabbed his arm and shook it.

“Peter! Peter, wake up!”

He moaned groggily. “Wha…?”

“You can’t sleep. You have a head injury.”

“I’m fiiiine… just tired…” he slurred.

Gamora shook him again as his eyes started closing. “Look at me!” He turned toward her, but she needed something to keep him conscious. “Tell me about how we first met.”

Quill gave a small smile. “You wanted to kill me. I had the orb. Power stone. From Morag. We didn’t know what it was at the time. Maybe you did? Anyway, you tried to kill me. But we got arrested by the Nova Corps. Sent to the Kiln. I kept you from being murdered!”

“Are you sure?” she asked skeptically.

He nodded emphatically. “Ask Drax. He wanted to kill you. But we made a deal. Sell the orb, split the proceeds. We all worked together, escaped from the Kiln.”

He paused as they hit the next jump point. When they hit the other side everyone got up, and Nebula walked over to them before he could pick up his story again.

“You need a bandage. And a cognitive function test,” she told Quill.

He tried to wave her away. “I’m fine!”

But Nebula was not one you could shoo away. She hauled him out of the chair by one arm and marched him back toward the medical bay. Gamora watched as he tried to turn in Nebula’s grasp and look back at her. She guessed the story had been more or less true; parts at least seemed right. Drax was walking by her and she turned to him.

“Did you try to kill me? When we first met?”  
  
“Of course,” he replied. “Ronan killed my family on the order of Thanos. You were a green whore who was a daughter of Thanos.” He looked at her for a moment, and then continued, “I suppose you are still a green whore.”  
  
“DRAX,” Nebula’s voice rang out from across the ship before Gamora could even respond, “ENOUGH.”

Drax shrugged. “Why do you ask?”  
  
“Did… Quill stop you?”

“He convinced me to use you to get to Ronan instead. But then we became friends. We have saved each other from dying several times. I’m sorry I could not save you from Thanos,” he told her genuinely.  
  
A chill went through Gamora as she thought about her own death. “That wasn’t me,” she said eventually, “but thank you.” With that she turned and walked off, lost in her own thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

“Thor? Can you help me with this?”

He had just walked into the common area of the ship and found Carol struggling to pull her suit jacket off her shoulders. Walking over to her, he grabbed the top edge of the garment and eased it over her shoulder, discovering a large bruise extending beyond the edge of her tank top and purpling her left shoulder.

“Are you ok?” he asked with concern.

Carol turned as she got free from jacket. “I’m good. Those robot things packed a bit of a punch,” she told him with a grin. “How are you doing?”

“Almost all healed,” he said, pulling up one side of his shirt. The scar was bright red, but it was a scar and no longer a hole.

“Glad to hear it.” Carol turned and started walking off, but Thor realized he didn’t really want her to leave.

“Wish I could have been out there. Lightning would have shorted them out, I’m sure of it,” he said to her back.

She turned. “I think you might just get your chance soon. The Sovereign don’t seem like the kind to give up.”

“You ever dealt with them before?”  
  
“No,” she replied, shaking her head. “I never did much work in the Andromeda Galaxy, and when the Guardians showed up I didn't really need to.”

“I think they like gold more than Odin did,” he chuckled.

Carol smirked. “But not by much.”

Thor looked at her in surprise. “You visited Asgard? When?”  
  
“I dunno, fifteen? twenty? years ago now. I was returning some Asgardian relic that I found on a job. An armband I think.”

He tried to remember if he’d ever seen her before, but he was sure he hadn’t. Well, he spent a lot of time away from Asgard then, so perhaps it wasn’t surprising. “If only I had been there, we would have showed you the best Asgard had to offer. The Warriors Three knew how to entertain.” His voice trailed off a bit at the end as he thought of his friends.

Carol put a hand on his arm. “You lost them before the snap, right?”

“I lost everything before the snap,” he whispered, not looking at her. This was not the way he had intended this conversation to go. “Sorry,” he said eventually, “didn’t mean to be a downer.”

“Don’t apologize. If anyone has earned the right to be a downer, it’s you,” she replied gently.

He looked up at her then. She had a kind smile on her face, and he wondered how she got so good at this. “Being alone is not something I’m used to. I don’t know how you do it.”

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Besides, you’re not alone, you have us.”

Thor was surprised to hear her include herself in that collective. “So you’re sticking around?”  
  
“What?” Carol asked in confusion before she realized what she had just said. “Oh, I meant them. The Guardians. They seem like good people. I mean, I really only know Rocket and Nebula. But they’re nice. Not like you don’t know that. I—uh—need to talk to Nebula,” she stammered abruptly, turning to leave.

“I’d like it if you did stay,” Thor said after her. She paused, half-turned like she was going to say something, but shook her head and walked off instead.

 _What was that?_ he thought after she had left. _Why did I say that?_

****

Carol had felt the heat rising on her face, and hoped the uneven light of the ship was enough to hide it. Why had she slipped up like that? _Us?_ She definitely had no intention of sticking around, even if they were good people. The Guardians were a family, and she was not part of it. And then there was Thor’s last remark. It had caught her off guard, even in the face of the inescapable fact that they had shared a moment there. Whatever he had meant, she had to ignore it. Entanglements were not something she could afford right now, or ever.

The next couple of days were quiet as they tried to lie low and avoid detection by the Sovereign. Carol kept busy with odd jobs around the ship, avoiding Thor as much as she could. That was impossible at night if she wanted to sleep in a bed, so she went to bed late and got up early so as to reduce the potential for interactions. It worked the first night, but when she tried to sneak into the dark room in the dead of the second night, he surprised her by waiting for her.

“Why are you avoiding me?” his voice rumbled from the dark, causing her to jump a mile. Her fist glowed, sending a wash of light over the room, and she saw him sitting in the room’s lone chair.

“Jesus, Thor! What the hell are you doing sitting in the dark?” she breathed as her heart rate slowed.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he replied, not answering her question.

Carol walked over to the light switch and turned it on, the glow from her hand fading. She leaned against the wall and crossed her hands in front of her. “I’m not avoiding you. I’m just…busy.”

“No one can be that busy around this ship. Ever since we had that discussion and I told you I’d like it if you stayed—”

“That has nothing to do with anything,” she said quickly, interrupting him. But he just stared at her, apparently unwilling to accept that response. She sighed. “Look, Thor, I appreciate the sentiment. I just can’t get… involved with anything or anyone right now. I’m here for Gamora, but I can’t stay.”

Sincerity filled those puppy-dog eyes of his, and her chest felt tight. “I meant what I said. I like you, Carol,” he told her, “I want to spend more time with you. I am hoping your friendship is not too much to ask.” He paused for a moment, and when she didn't say anything he stuck out his hand toward her. “Friends?”  
  
Carol could feel the tension in her chest release. Now she felt silly, making this into such a big deal. She had friends all over the universe, some quite dear to her. Why was she afraid of making friends here? Eventually she grabbed Thor’s proffered hand. “Friends,” she agreed, smiling in response to his infectious grin.

****

Gamora wasn’t quite sure what had been going on over the last few days. Since they had arrived on the Benatar Carol had been friendly but distant to the Guardians, as if she was marking her time until the two weeks were up. Gamora supposed that she was, but then a few days ago everything about Carol’s demeanor changed. She was hanging out more with them, cracking jokes and trading tips on fighting. She looked so relaxed, so comfortable. Gamora found herself feeling jealous despite herself. These were supposed to be _her_ family, so why was Carol the one fitting in so well? And why did she care?

She looked up from where she had been working on wrapping the handle of a knife to see Carol and Thor walk into the common area of the ship. The two were nigh inseparable now, though when questioned they insisted they were just good friends.

“That’s weird, right?” Quill said under his breath as he sat down next to her, nodding toward the pair who were chatting with Nebula.

Gamora raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh?” she replied, pretending like she hadn’t just been thinking the same thing.

“They say they’re just friends, but Drax said he heard a thump from their room last night.”

She went back to wrapping her knife. “And you believe him.”

“No, I’m just saying, they’re both attractive people, they spend all that time together…” he trailed off, leaving the rest implied.

“Women and men can’t be just friends?” Gamora knew she was baiting him, but she couldn’t help it. He was kind of cute when he was flustered.

“N—no,” he backpedaled, “Of course they can. I’m friends with Nebula and Mantis.”

She looked up at him. “And me?”

Quill stared at her and she could see a rapid sequence of emotions play across his face. “Does this mean you’re staying?” he eventually asked, his voice barely audible.

“I don’t know,” she replied, looking back at her knife. She didn’t say anything for a while. Finally she sighed. “I still don’t quite feel like I fit in here, but then again I don’t feel like I fit in anywhere. Ever since I came to this time I’ve been alone, without purpose. I feel like everyone is expecting me to be someone I’m not. But I feel less alone here than I have since I was a child. Nebula has been trying to convince me that my place is here.”  
  
He was still staring at her, now with an unmistakable look of joy. “I’d hug you right now but I don’t want to get stabbed.”

“Good choice,” Gamora said, looking back to her knife glinting in the light.

“I—uh—gotta take care of something,” he stammered, then took off to another part of the ship. A few moments later she heard and unmistakable “wooooo hooooo!” filtered through the walls.

Thor and Carol turned to look in the direction of the sound. “What was that about?” Carol asked rhetorically. She looked toward Gamora but the assassin was still wrapping the handle of the knife, an almost imperceptible smirk on her face.


	6. Chapter 6

They were sure this job wasn’t a trap set by the Sovereign. Well, 67% sure at least. Sure enough that they needed the cash, at least. When Carol went down to scout the area and found no gold machines or other paraphenilia, they were even more sure. Turned out that the locals wanted them to find a kidnapped princess; well, that seemed easy enough.

They picked up the kidnappers’ trail a day later at a spaceport one system over, and after that it only took them another day to find the hideout. From above, the planet seemed ramshackle, but a scan of the surface revealed a lot of hidden technology. Someone didn’t want anyone to know what was going on there. Along with your standard motion sensors and force fields, EMP blasters and motion-tracking weapons guarded the entrance to the lair. They would have to keep the ship well back from the surface, and the jet packs most of them used to move around would be inoperable.

“I can handle it,” Carol said, hands on her hips. “You guys can just wait up here.”

“With what we can see from here, I’d be concerned about what else these guys are hiding. You need backup,” Nebula replied.

“All you gotta do is take out the EMPs and we can come down just fine,” Quill put in.

Carol shook her head. “What if I miss one? Or they have another below surface? It’s too dangerous.”

“I can go with you,” Thor said from behind them. It had been just over a week since his injury; most people would still be bedridden from such a deep wound, but he was up and about and not too much worse for the wear. He’d put on his armor and carried Stormbreaker in one hand. “I gotta get off this ship.”

Carol looked at him skeptically. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”

“Never better. C’mon, let’s get going,” he said with a grin.

Carol didn’t look totally convinced, but she nodded anyway. She opened the airlock doors and stepped inside, and Thor followed. “We’ll lose comms when we get down there,” she told the Guardians, “If we’re not back in 15 minutes… well you should probably just get out of here if that happens.”

She closed the door again before they could respond. Thor looked over at her as she took a deep breath, then she surprised him by grabbing his hand and giving it a small squeeze. When the other side of the airlock opened they shot out and flew quickly down toward the surface. He heard his comms crackle and go dead as the first EMP blast washed over them; now they had to rely on being in earshot of each other. As he flew around he dropped lightning bolts to the surface, taking out guns and shields. Carol had taken out a wide swath when they reconvened at what had to be the entrance to the kidnappers’ underground lair.

“Ready?” he asked her as they paused before entering.

“Let’s do this.”

They blasted through the door and down hallway after hallway. A faint shouting drew them down to a lower level until they finally broke through a force field and into a large chamber. They could just see the princess being held at the far end of the room, a large company of men between them and her. Thor didn’t know where these men had come from or what they were planning, but they were fierce fighters. They fought steadily until Thor noticed a group of them heading toward the princess; he wasn’t sure what their plan was, but he couldn’t let them get to her.

“Keep them busy!” he called to Carol. With a blast he scattered the rest of them men around him and took off toward the princess. When he arrived the men were pulling her toward another door. Thor made short work of them, then turned toward the princess.

Up close, she was stunningly beautiful. Lustrous dark hair fell to her small waist and framed her delicate facial features. Her large almond-shaped eyes were like pools of liquid amber in her porcelain skin. She wore a dark green dress made of some shimmery material that clung to her body, leaving little to the imagination. Thor was momentarily stunned.

“You saved me! My hero!” she squealed, hurrying over to him and throwing her arms around him.

He grinned broadly as his chest puffed and he stood straighter. It had been a long time since anyone had called him their hero. “It’s nothing, Miss. All in a day’s work.”

“I’m ever so grateful. My name is Ilora.”

“I’m Thor, God of Thunder,” he said proudly, “at your service.”  
  
“Let us get out of this horrible place. Then,” she whispered seductively, “you must let me thank you.”

She pushed her body against his and Thor felt his face get hot. He found his arm draped around her waist with no memory of how it had gotten there. A deafening blast broke him out of his reverie, and he looked up to see Carol flying toward them. 

“I see you’ve made friends,” she said as she landed. Her demeanor was cool as she regarded the princess still draped across him.

“Ah—erm, yes. Carol, this is Ilora. Ilora, Carol. Carol helped to save you as well.”  
  
Ilora put her hand out, palm down and back of facing Carol as if she expected the other woman to kiss her sparkling rings. “Delighted, I’m sure.”

Carol ignored the hand. “We need to get out of here,” she said to Thor.

“Right. Why don’t you hold onto me,” he said to the woman in his arms, “and I’ll carry you back to the ship.”

“I’ll hold on ever so tightly,” Ilora simpered, and Thor saw Carol roll her eyes before she took off back towards the surface.

****

“There’s something about her… it doesn’t feel right,” Carol told Nebula later. Ilora was currently entertaining the men of the ship with the story of her capture. Even Groot looked entranced by the new woman.

“Surely it’s not that she’s throwing herself at Thor,” Nebula replied dryly.

Carol looked at her with an annoyed expression. “Why would I care who she’s throwing herself at? C’mon, you have to admit, something is off.”  
  
“Yes,” Mantis agreed, “her aura is strange.”

Nebula grudgingly nodded. “It is odd.”

“You are right,” Drax said from behind them, causing them all to jump. “I believe she is a demoness.”

“Drax!” Carol exclaimed, “I thought—why aren’t you over there with the others?”

He folded his arms in front of him. “I had a friend who was seduced by a she-demon. He took her into his bed and she stole his soul. Ever since that day I harden my heart and think only of my beloved Ovette any time I meet a beautiful woman. You are right to be jealous,” he told Carol.

“I’m not jealous. She’s clearly up to something,” Carol protested with indignation.

Drax nodded. “Stealing souls through intercourse,” he said definitively.

“I’m sure that’s not what’s going on here, Drax,” Nebula replied.

“Whatever it is, I want her off this ship as soon as possible,” Carol said darkly. She looked over at the cluster and watched as Gamora walked past them. Quill looked up as she passed, and it was as if a fog lifted from his eyes. He stood up abruptly and backed away from the mystery woman, begging off that he had to adjust the rear thrusters. Carol watched with interest, and couldn’t fail to notice that Gamora did as well.

“I think she might be a witch,” Gamora said as she walked up to them.

“Thank you. See? The green wh— woman agrees with me,” Drax said, changing words mid-sentence as Gamora shot him a murderous look.

Carol stood up. “Well whether she’s a witch, or a demon, or just a thief: everyone keep an eye on her tonight.”

Gamora considered their guest for a moment, and then said, “I see now why you’re jealous.”

“I’m. Not. Jealous.” Carol said through gritted teeth, then turned away from them and walked over to a window to stare into space.

The cluster of men and Ilora had broken up by the time she walked by later, and the mystery woman was nowhere to be seen. Determined to find her, Carol stalked around the ship, looking in every unlocked room. Outside of her own room she ran into Thor.

“Carol! What are you doing?” he asked.

“Looking for our guest,” she sneered. “Look, Thor, I’m sure you know what you’re doing, but be careful. I get a bad feeling about her.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing. She seems perfectly nice to me.” He looked uncomfortable and a little guilty.

Carol stared at him for a moment. “If you’re gonna sleep with her, put a sock on the door or something,” she finally said, unable to keep the disgust out of her voice.

His eyes went wide. “What? No! I couldn’t— I would never— with someone I just met— Well, I guess I have,” he said, reconsidering his statement, “but that was before.”  
  
“Before what?” Carol asked.

“N–nothing. Anyway I’m not interested in her. Like that. Like anything really.”

She looked him suspiciously. “Really? You seemed pretty taken with her earlier.”

“Oh that,” he replied, waving her off. “Well she was charming at first, but it just felt wrong. I think she’s rather put out that none of us want her in our beds tonight.”

“I bet,” she snorted. “So do you know where she is?”

“Sharing a room with Mantis, much to her chagrin.”

“That was an option?!”

****

“We thank you for returning our beloved princess. The units have already been transferred to your accounts.”

The hall was large and ornate and mostly empty. Several men stood on a dais, the princess having been whisked off somewhere after she had been delivered. The lead man was gracious, if overly officious.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why was she kidnapped?” Carol asked, trying to hide her suspicion.

“Why, her beauty is famed across the galaxy. And she is a siren,” he conceded, “so passing ships have often tried to capture her. This was the first that succeeded.”

Carol was seething. “You hired a crew with men in it to rescue a _siren_? What were you thinking?”

Before the spokesman could respond, an old woman cackled from a chair in the back. Everyone turned to look at her. “It was never going to be a problem,” she croaked.

“It could have been catastrophic,” Carol accused.

“No,” the old woman replied. She pointed one crooked finger at Rocket and Groot. “For two of your crew it was a biological impossibility. One was impervious to her charms,” she continued, raising one finger in the air. Then she laid her hand back in her lap and finished, “And the others have true love in their hearts. Any infatuation would have been… temporary, and easily broken.” Then she fell silent. Everyone looked at the remaining three men: Drax looked unsurprised, Quill almost sad, and Thor just looked confused.

The spokesman cleared his throat. “Once again I thank you for your service and apologize for any trouble she has caused.”

“No trouble, we’re ok,” Quill said as he started backing toward the door. “We’ll be on our way now.”

The others took this as their cue to exit the chamber, but Carol couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else going on. As the others walked out she grabbed Gamora’s arm.

“Does that explanation feel right to you?” she hissed.

Gamora shook her head. “No, but I’m not sure we want to find the real one.”

“C’mon, let’s just look around a minute.” Carol gestured off down the hall with her head. Gamora looked like she was considering objecting, but she followed Carol anyway.

The palace was mostly empty. Room after room was impeccably decorated, and covered in dust. Carol got an even worse feeling about this place and these people. They had just entered another apparently empty room when a voice spoke behind them.

“You should not be here,” the old woman croaked.

Carol and Gamora whirled around. Somehow the woman was sitting in a chair that Carol could swear was empty a moment ago.

“What are you up to?” Carol demanded, “What’s going on here?”

The woman cackled. “It is not the time to know.” Then she fell silent again.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? Know what? Tell us!” Carol stepped forward toward the woman, fist glowing, but the crone wouldn’t speak again.

“C’mon, let’s get out of here,” Gamora said eventually, putting her hand on Carol’s shoulder to try to steer her away. Carol swore and turned to follow Gamora out of the room.

“Only if you're looking can it find you,” the old woman croaked behind them.

Carol turned. “What?”

“For it to recognize you, you must recognize it,” she replied cryptically.

Gamora grabbed Carol’s shoulder, but Carol shrugged her off. “What is ‘it’? What is coming?”

The crone stared at them, eyes blinking slowly. Carol thought she was going to clam up again when she finally croaked, “True love of course.”  
  
Carol rolled her eyes and turned. “I’ve had enough of this, let’s go.”

“Who are you talking to?” Gamora asked, causing Carol to look at her in surprise.

The old woman cackled again. “It may find both of you in the end. But remember: only if you are looking.”

Gamora let Carol pull her away from the crone and out of the palace. Carol didn’t know what this place was about, but they’d be better off if they left sooner than later. As they boarded the ship Rocket looked at them in surprise.

“Where were you two?”

“Just checking something out,” Carol replied vaguely. “Let’s get out of here.” No one spoke for the remainder of the departure preparations. Finally, they strapped in and took off from the planet’s surface.

“So, uh, that old hag, she was something else,” Quill said, breaking the silence.

Carol looked at Gamora but the other woman said nothing, and she kept their encounter to herself. “I can’t believe they asked us to do that,” she said instead, diverting the topic.

“50,000 units ’s not a bad take, though. I’d do it again,” Rocket reasoned.

“Clearly I was the one who was impervious,” Thor said to no one in particular.

Groot looked up from his video game. “I am Groot.”

“That is true, Drax _was_ the only one who wasn’t sitting all entranced-like,” Rocket agreed.

“Well maybe he’s biologically incompatible.”

“I assure you, I am not,” Drax replied, eyebrow raised. He gestured at Rocket and Groot. “She pointed to them, anyway.”

“Everyone knows who Quill loves, but who do _you_ love?” Rocket taunted Thor.

“I can find out!” Mantis said, reaching toward Thor’s hand. He jerked it out of her reach.

“No one’s finding out anything. The hag was wrong, simple as that. We have a saying in Asgard, ‘Never trust an old hag’. Constantly making up stories. You were right, it was dangerous,” he told Carol. She glanced at him, but didn’t say anything. What was he on about anyway? Why didn’t he just shut up about it? “Luckily I’m strong enough to resist such wiles,” he continued.

“And apparently in love,” Rocket muttered, sniggering.

Thor pretended not to hear him as they hit the jump point and shot through.


	7. Chapter 7

Gamora couldn’t get the old woman’s words out of her head. Thoughts of the inevitability of love had plagued her since she arrived, and now this? It all seemed too much. She’d only been on the ship for a week and a half. She was walking toward the common area of the ship, and as she got closer she heard one of Quill’s songs playing over the ship’s stereo.

🎶 _Fooled around and fell in love … fooled around and fell in love…_ 🎶

She walked into the room and found him working on some small device on the table. He looked up and his face lit up when he saw her.

“Hey Gamora. How’s it going?” He seemed more relaxed since she had told him she was thinking of staying. No longer afraid of doing something wrong, or trying to impress her. Just being his goofy, sometimes arrogant, sometimes vulnerable, self.

She smiled at him. “What is this song?”

“Elvin Bishop. One of my mom’s favorites.”

She listened for a moment. “The melody is pleasant.” He stared at her with a look of happiness, and hope, and loss. “What?” she asked.

“You said that before about this song,” he told her, a wistful look on his face, “We almost kissed. And then you accused me of pelvic sorcery and threatened to cut my throat.”

She had to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

Quill looked confused. “What?”

“You, being nostalgic about me threatening to kill you,” she explained.

He shrugged. “It happened a lot at the beginning of our relationship. Honestly getting kneed in the junk was nothing in comparison.” He looked back at the device and fiddled with it a bit. “So,” he said eventually with an attempt at nonchalance, “only a few more days. Have you decided if you’re staying?”

Gamora sighed. She knew this was coming. “Against my better judgement, I enjoy the company of this crew. But I can’t promise I’ll ever fall in love with you, and I can’t live with that expectation. I’ll stay, but only if we can just be friends.”

“I will always love you, Gamora. I would do anything for you. Have done anything for you. Back before you… you know… you asked me to—to kill you if you Thanos ever captured you to prevent him from finding the last stone. And I pulled the trigger. Of course Thanos had the reality stone and turned the bullets into bubbles, but my point is: if I can do that, I can do anything for you. Including just being your friend.”

She watched him as he spoke and heard the real pain in his voice as he talked about her request. This wasn’t going to be easy, staying here. Taking the place of someone who was her… and yet not her at all. But something in her said it was worth it.

****

“Thor! Thor, are you awake?” Carol hissed, leaning over the edge of her bed and looking down at him from above.

He groaned and rubbed his eyes groggily. “I am now… what time is it?”

“Uhh… early.”

He opened his eyes and looked up at her. “Why are you awake?”

“Nightmares,” she replied without elaborating.

“And you decided to wake me up because…?”

She shrugged. “I wasn’t trying to wake you up.”

“Well you succeeded anyway.” He closed his eyes again, apparently trying to go back to sleep.

“Wanna fight?”she asked. “You know, since you’re awake.”

Thor cracked an eye, then sighed and swung his feet over the side of the bed. “Why not?” As he stood she hopped down beside him, grinning. “Why do I get the feeling this isn’t the first time you’ve done this?”  
  
“Old habits die hard,” she replied as they left the small room and walked in silence to the rear of the ship.

The small training room would do well enough, she’d just have to keep the blasting to a minimum. As they entered the room she peeled off a long-sleeved shirt. Underneath she wore only a sports bra, but she wasn’t shy, and anyway it as just Thor. He raised an eyebrow at her, then took off his own shirt. She could see muscles rippling under the layer of fat that still clung stubbornly to his body. The circled each other once in silence, then she shot toward him in an attack. He parried backward, and they picked up a rhythm alternating attacks. He seemed a bit slower than he had when she had first met him, but his punches packed some heat.

“So,” he said eventually between breaths, “wanna tell me about the nightmares?”

“Not really,” she replied as she attacked. This time he grabbed her arm and twisted her around, buts she went with the flow of the attack and dropped out of his grasp. When she stood back up he was giving her a look. She sighed. “Fine. I used to have nightmares about the explosion where I got my powers,” she said as she attacked, “now I just have nightmares about the Kree. What if I never broke free of their influence?”

Thor looked like he was considering this as he blocked one of her attacks and set up one of his own. He didn’t tell her not to worry or downplay it like everyone else. Instead, he asked, “So who did you drag out of bed to fight you before? With the other nightmare?” She gave him a look; how did he know that? “You said it was an old habit,” he offered.

She didn’t say anything for a few minutes, debating on how much to tell him. She rarely felt close enough to anyone to tell them the details of that. Talos knew, but few others. She felt comfortable with Thor, though. He was looking at her curiously. She waved a break in the fight and went to get a bottle of water.

“There was a Kree. Named Yon-Rogg,” she told him as she caught her breath. “We were kind of a thing. Until I found out he was gaslighting me. Lied about my past, who I was. Really he was always an asshole, always dragging me down, but he made me think that he cared about me. Pretty sure he only cared about himself.” She stopped for a moment, waiting to see what his response would be. Once, about 10 years ago, she had opened up about this to someone she had thought could be trusted. He had laughed at her, so she punched him in the face and never saw him again.

“Is he still alive?” Thor asked.

“I think so. I heard he got demoted and is still on Hala.”  
  
“He’s lucky he’s far away,” Thor said darkly. She gave him a questioning look, and he continued, “Men like that don’t deserve to be called men. If I ever have the misfortune of meeting him, he will know my wrath.”

Carol stared at him in surprise. That was not really the reaction that she had expected. Thor had been holding metal water bottle as he spoke, which was now crushed in his hand. He looked down at it then tossed it away. He crossed his arms in front of him and stared moodily out into space. Draining her own water she walked over to him.

“C’mon, we’re not done yet,” she told him as she stepped back into a guarded position. “Work out that anger, yeah?”

Thor gave a half smile and then lunged toward her without any warning. She dodged and his arm went flying inches away from her face. She grabbed it and used it to weave around him. This time, they fought in silence, and Carol let her thoughts wander. Thor’s fury at what she had told him had been palpable, but was it just distaste for Yon-Rogg’s actions in general, or something else? Then she realized she had let her thoughts wander too far and wasn’t paying attention to the fight. Thor swung and this time his fist connected, sending her flying across the room and crashing into a wall. She pushed herself into a seated position and looked up to see Thor rushing toward her, concern etched on his face.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to—I mean, I thought you’d dodge—”

Carol waved him off with something between a grimace and smile. “It’s fine. My fault. Just caught me off guard.”

He ignored her dismissal and grabbed her arm to help her up. She stumbled as she rose, falling forward and into his arms. Her breath caught in her throat and for a moment there was only the feel of his skin on hers and his strong arms wrapped around her. Then the moment passed and they both laughed nervously as she pushed back from him slightly. He still held her arm for support and she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to pull away or fall back into his arms. She shook her head, trying to clear the thought away. What was she thinking? They were just friends.

“You all right?” he asked.

She nodded and pulled away from him. “I’m fine. Done fighting for this morning, I think.” She walked over to where her shirt lay on the ground and pulled it over her head, then hugged her arms close over her abdomen. This morning had dredged up a lot of buried emotions, and she needed some time alone. Thor laid his hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him. He had put on his shirt as well and was looking at her with concern.  
  
“Hey,” he said gently, reaching up to push a lock of her short hair off her forehead. “Sorry if I opened old wounds. I know what it’s like when the people you love keep things from you, whether with good intentions or ill.”

“I didn’t love…” she started before she even knew what she was saying. She stopped, swallowed, then said, “It’s ok. You’d think after all these years it wouldn’t bother me so much.”

“No matter what the poets say, time doesn’t heal all wounds.”

Then he pulled her into a hug. She stiffened in surprise, but after a moment she relaxed, relishing the feel of it. “Thanks,” she mumbled into his shoulder.

“What are friends for?”

****

Later that day Carol was looking through some messages that had come in over the last few days. She only had to stay two more days in order to make the bet a draw, and she wasn’t yet sure whether or not she was itching to get away and to her own missions or sad to be leaving. It might be both. Then there was always the option _not_ to leave; the Guardians certainly weren’t expecting that, and two weeks ago she would have laughed in someone’s face had they suggested it.

“Something bothering you?”

Carol looked up to see Gamora had slid into a chair next to her. She must have been frowning unconciously, and now she shook her head. “Not really, just trying to go through some of these requests.”

“You could probably pass some on to the Guardians,” Gamora suggested.

Carol smirked. “Most of these don’t pay very well. But I’ll think about it.”

“Planning your departure already?”

“Just seeing what’s out there,” Carol replied, shrugging. “I heard you’re sticking around.”

It was Gamora’s turn to shrug. “Extending my trial period. I hate to admit it but I’ve kind of grown to like these weirdos.”

“What about you and Quill?”

“He’s promised we can be friends. Two weeks is not enough time to fall in love with anyone.”

Carol chuckled. “Some would disagree. Love at first sight and all that.”

“Well I’m not those people. Peter told me I tried to kill him at least 5 times in the first month I knew him.”

“So it’s going well, then.”

They both laughed, and Carol wondered if things had gone differently, would she have been part of this team? She shared snark with Rocket, a no-nonsense outlook with Gamora and Nebula, and a bit of attitude with Quill (deep down, she had to admit). Despite her misgivings the two weeks had flown by.

After a bit Gamora spoke again. “Do you ever think about what the old woman said?”

“I try not to,” Carol replied, turning her attention again to the messages.

“Yeah,” Gamora agreed, but it didn’t seem like she was actually felt that way.

Carol sighed. She didn’t really want to talk about this, especially after her morning, but Gamora looked like she needed to get something off her chest. “What is it?”

“I’ve never thought about love before. I don’t think it so much as crossed my mind. But knowing that when we found out about the Avengers time traveling I was only a few days away from meeting the man I would fall in love with? That I actually would fall in love with someone?” She shook her head. “I just can’t stop thinking about it.”

The philosophical nature of this Gamora had to be a result of the time skip, and knowing how different she was in another future. Nebula had given her the ship’s logs, but maybe that wasn’t a good idea. “And now you’re thinking about the old woman,” Carol said.

“All that about looking for true love, recognizing it… I don’t think I can do that. I don’t understand how I could have gotten to a place where was willing to find love.”

“Do you want to?” Carol asked curiously.

“I’m not sure. I’m perfectly fine now without love mucking things up. Talking to Peter, hearing the pain in his voice when he talks about losing her—me—I think maybe it’s best avoided.”

“So then ignore the old woman and live your life,” Carol told her, looking back toward the tablet.

“What about you?” Gamora asked.

Carol froze, finger hovering over the screen. “What?”

“She said it would find you too.”

“Only if I’m looking, which I am decidedly not.”

“Well you and Thor have been spending a lot of time together and she said Thor had…” Gamora started saying before she trailed off upon seeing the dangerous look in Carol’s eyes.

“Don’t even think about finishing that sentence.” She stood up, clutching her tablet. “Can’t you talk to Mantis about this or something? Romantic love is not my department. Not in love, not looking for love, pretty sure I’ve never been in love. Got it?”

Gamora put her hands up in response, and Carol took that as an opportunity to leave her and the conversation behind.

****

Thor was reading a message from Valkyrie about New Asgard when Quill sat down next to him. The two men had come to an understanding of sorts, and without Gamora on the ship for the previous six months Quill had at least lost the jealousy aspect of his antagonism towards Thor. Even so, it was rare that they chatted.

“Hey, uh, do you think you could give me some tips on building up the god-like physique? You know, back when you were ripped. I’m trying to impress Gamora.”

Thor considered the question for a moment, then shrugged. “I never really thought about it.”

“C’mon, what did you do in Asgard to work out?”

“We didn’t really. Mostly fighting armies of evil-doers. But I guess you could always pick up heavy things and put them down,” Thor suggested.

Quill rolled his eyes. “Ok, not really helpful. Hey,” he said as an idea struck him, “why don’t we train together?”

“Why would I need to train?” Thor asked.

Quill laughed. “Is that a joke? Dude, lose those last pounds, impress Danvers…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” That was kind of a lie. The memory of their early-morning fight flooded his mind, and the feeling of her in his arms that had made his heart beat even faster. But they were friends, and he couldn’t let himself start thinking about her like that.

“C’mon man, I’ve seen you two together,” Quill pressed.

“We’re just friends.”

Quill nodded and winked at him. “Right, like I’m just friends with Gamora. But it could be more…”

“Not interested,” Thor stated, looking back at the tablet and trying to ignore Quill.

“Ok, ok, fine, whatever. Maybe you can just do it to help a friend out?”

Thor looked at him again. He was impressed that this meant so much to Quill that he’d ask him for help; six months ago this would have never happened. “Fine, I’ll help you,” he conceded. “On one condition.”

“Name it,” Quill replied excitedly.

“No talking about me and Carol, and whatever you _think_ is going on.”

Quill nodded. “Not a problem. Just two guys working out to better themselves. Definitely not to impress any women.”

Thor rolled his eyes and turned back to the message. Why did he agree to this?


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains spoilers for Spider-man: Far From Home!! If you've seen it, you might have an idea why. :) If you haven't seen it I recommend holding off on this until you do because it's a sizeable spoiler.

“Leaving already?”

Her two weeks were officially up, and Carol was in the small room she had shared with Thor checking the contents of her kit and packing up small items around the room. She turned to see him leaning in the door frame.

“I wouldn’t rush off but I got an urgent message from Fury,” she told him.

“Trouble on Midgard? Should I come? We could take the Bifrost in, save time,” he offered, moving toward Stormbreaker.

“I’m not headed to Earth. The station is in the next system over.”

He was shocked. “Fury’s… in space? In this galaxy? Since when?”

“Since just after Tony’s funeral. He’s been working with the Skrulls to create a new organization to protect not just Earth but other planets as well. A kind of S.H.I.E.L.D. in space,” Carol explained.

“And he just left Midgard? What if someone notices he’s missing?”

She smirked. “My old friend, Talos, took his place. I imagine this has something to do with that.”

“Wow,” he said, impressed. “I’m going to miss you around here. All of us will.”

Carol paused in her packing, but didn’t turn toward him. She hated goodbyes. “I’ll miss you too,” she said softly. It would be so easy to come back after and stay, but the feeling she got when she thought about that frightened her. Just like she had done in 1995, she would leave the ones she loved behind for the greater good. _Wait… loved?_ she caught herself, and realized Thor was still staring at her. She started messing with her pack again, desperate for a distraction. “I’ll come back and visit,” she said eventually.

“I’d like that.”  
  
Satisfied that she couldn’t think of anything more to do to the bag, she grabbed it and turned toward the door. The longer she lingered the tougher these things became, she knew from experience. She’d said her goodbyes, now she needed to get going. Thor still blocked the door, though. She thought about leaving through the other door, but knew it would be awkward.

“I better get going,” she told him, hoping he’d move. He did, but not in the direction she had hoped. Instead he stepped toward her and pulled her into a hug.

Despite the warnings in her head she hugged him back; friends could hug each other, after all. She rested her head on his shoulder, not wanting the moment to end. She felt one of his hands move to her face and push a lock of hair off her forehead. She lifted her head up and looked at him. In his eyes were caring, and fondness, and perhaps disappointment at her departure, but no expectation.

Their faces were so close together. Ozone filled her nostrils, that scent she had first smelled when she slept in his bed the night she arrived. Half of her screamed to stop this, run away, get out of there. The other half longed to never leave his arms again. Now he was looking at her somewhat curiously, as if he was wondering what she was doing still clinging to him. She felt that it couldn’t possibly be a mystery; those eyes, one crystal blue and the other fiery orange, seemed to look right through her. She found herself staring at his lips without intending to. She wondered what they would feel like on hers, the feel of his beard on her face, and then she wasn’t wondering anymore.

The kiss was hesitant, unsure, not unlike herself in that moment. It seemed like her lips had met his before she had even known it was happening, and yet it was undeniable that she had kissed him. He had seemed surprised at first, but then he’d cradled her face in his palm and pulled her closer. Her heart felt like it was going to burst.

And then, as suddenly as it had happened, it was over. She pulled away, the practical side of her taking charge. “I—I have to go,” was all she could manage to say before she turned and fled through the door.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Oh god, this was definitely not supposed to happen. _Shit_. Was she falling in love?!

****

“You still on this space station, or have you left the galaxy?” Fury asked, snapping Carol out of her thoughts. She had been staring into space—quite literally—as she had found herself doing frequently since she left the Benatar. Every so often she would find herself unconciously touching her lips. It wasn’t like she hadn’t kissed plenty of people in the past fifty years, but never like that.

She smiled sheepishly. “I’m here, what’s up?”

The station they sat on was expansive, and she was impressed with what Fury and the Skrulls had done in a few short months. S.W.O.R.D. was what they called it, and it was nearly up and running.

“I wanted to chat with you before I head back.”  
  
She raised an eyebrow. “Already? I thought you said you had more work to do here?”

“I do, but there are things that need my attention on Earth,” Fury sighed, looking out toward the ship.

“What did Talos do now?” Carol asked with a smirk.

“Only nearly got Parker killed and allowed Stark’s weaponized drone tech to fall into the hands of a madman.”

“Is that all? The kid’s all right, though?”

“Yeah, he’s fine. You know, all he was supposed to do is keep an eye on the Kree sleeper cell on our planet. Now he’s making me look bad,” Fury complained, but with affection. “I need to pick up some of Stark’s tech for the project anyway, I’ll be back in a few weeks.”

“So what did you want to chat about?” she asked curiously.

Fury turned and grabbed a tablet, pulling up some information. “Talos did pick up a coded message sent to the cell. We think it might be a sign to get ready. For what, we don’t know.”

Carol looked down at the message but it didn’t look like anything to her. “Beats me.”

“Any idea what they might be up to?” he asked her.

She sat back in her chair. “What else? Conquering. Subjugation. Kree things,” she said with disgust. “Obviously I’m coming with you.”

“Not so fast. With this new station we can keep track of them on Earth as well as monitoring Kree movements around the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is our opinion that we should watch them for a while just in case they have bigger plans. And Earth is not wholly without protectors these days.”

“Who’s opinion?” she asked suspiciously.

Fury tented his fingers in front of him. “Talos agrees with me, as do the other generals.”

“So why tell me and bring me here if you don’t want me to come?”

He shrugged. “We thought you’d want to know. Also that you and your new friends might do some recon, see if anyone has information on their plans.”

“My new friends?” Carol said in surprise, her stomach dropping.

“Word in the intergalactic scuttlebutt is that the Guardians of the Galaxy are packing a lot more heat than they once were,” he replied with a smirk. “Seeing how you usually work alone, I’m wondering if there’s something you’re not telling me?”

Carol bit the inside of her cheek to keep from flushing and hoped he wouldn’t notice. “Just… helping out,” she said nonchalantly.

“But you are planning to keep helping out.” It wasn’t a question, and she didn’t have an answer anyway. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain Asgardian who is also ‘helping out’ right now, would it?”

She choked, and tried to cover it with a cough. “No,” she replied with as much indignation as she could muster. “I have no interest in him or the rest of them. They asked for help, I helped, but I’m done now and won’t be hanging out with them.” Approximately half of that was true but she hope that she had sold the rest of it.

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

Damn. Apparently she hadn’t. Fury was looking at her with that intensity of his where it seems like he can see more of you with one eye than other people do with two.

She broke under that gaze. “Ok, so they’re friends. I’ve been staying with them. What does it matter?”  
  
“Was that so hard? Anything else?” he asked, a wicked smile on his face.

“No,” she growled through gritted teeth, trying to convince herself it was true.

He put his hands in the air in mock surrender. “All right, all right. But you know you can always talk to me.” This time he wasn’t teasing or prying.

“I know,” she sighed. “There’s nothing else to talk about.” For the barest instant the desire to tell him everything flitted through her mind. Ask for his advice, get his read on the situation. He had known Thor longer than she had, after all. But even though Fury was a good friend, she couldn’t bring herself to open up to him like that.

“You will do the recon?” he asked eventually.

“Yes, I’ll do the recon.”

“And not tip the Kree off that we’re watching them?”

She punched him lightly in the arm and included a small zap. “Who do you think I am?”  
  
“Kidding, kidding!” he said, grabbing his arm. “You take care of yourself, and the rest of those fools.”

“You too,” she replied, smiling at him.

****

The first couple of days after Carol left Thor had wandered around in a daze, unsure what had actually happened. He sent message after message to her, hoping for answers, but they went unanswered. Then he got depressed, wondering if he had pushed her away or messed up somehow. It was tempting to return to the bottle at that point but Rocket didn’t keep that much booze on the ship. Now? It had been a week since she left with no contact and now he was pissed off. He wasn’t sure if he was angry with her for doing that and disappearing, or angry with himself for thinking it meant anything. Maybe both.

“Dude, what the hell? You could have killed me!” Quill yelled from across the training room.

For a moment he was thrown back to a time he had said that to Hulk on Sakaar, snapping him out of his stormy thoughts. He looked over to where Quill stood in front of a large dent in the side of the ship, an iron orb laying on the ground next to him.

“Sorry,” Thor apologized.

Quill crossed his arms in front of him. “What is up with you, man?”

“Nothing,” he lied.

“Did something happen with you and Carol…” Quill began, but faltered when he saw the look Thor was giving him.

“You promised. Nothing about her.”

“I know, I know. Look, this is going to sound weird coming from me, but you seem like you need to talk to someone,” Quill offered.

Thor turned away. “I don’t. I’m fine. Can we get back to training?”

“Fine, whatever you say. But I’d prefer it if you didn’t hurl projectiles at me, ok?”

Thor grunted in reply. Even with his emotional turmoil, he had kept his word to Quill and had been training with him. Sometimes it helped keep his mind off her. Other times, not so much. They lifted heavy things, they trained with weapons. Quill still couldn’t budge Stormbreaker, but Rocket had stopped making comments about sandwiches so things were going ok. Much to Quill’s chagrin, in a week Thor had lost almost all of his remaining weight thanks to his Asgardian metabolism and was looking much the same as when he had crashed into their windshield years ago. The look was also sold by the fact that in that in one period of depression and anger Thor had cut his hair short again, wanting some kind of change.

When a message finally came in from her, two weeks after she had left, it wasn’t for him but for the Guardians as a whole. She said she had been taking care of a few things but would be returning to the Benatar soon, if it they said it was ok. Nebula had replied yes before even asking anyone else, but they were all happy to have her back.

By that point Thor had reached an acceptance of sorts, or maybe just denial. When he heard she was coming back he was as happy as the rest of them; if he just pretended it never happened, then it never happened, and they could go back to being friends. That was, at least, how he was going into it. He assumed that was how she felt about it as well. If she had wanted it to mean anything she wouldn’t have run out the door, or would have replied to his messages at the very least. He thought about what he’d say to her when she returned, something to let her know that he wasn’t expecting anything from her.

The day she walked into the ship, however, all of his careful preparation went out the window. The look she gave him was unreadable, probably on purpose. There was a tightness in his chest and he felt like child, tongue-tied and awkward. He opted not to say anything at all.

“You could stay with me this time, if you wanted a change,” Mantis offered, reading the situation accurately as she always did.

Carol gave her a small smile. “That’s ok, I’ll stick with my old bed.” She looked at Thor, who was shocked by this answer, with that unreadable expression again. He managed a smile he hoped looked natural.

She filled them in on what Fury had told her and what he had asked them to do. Quill complained that all the stopping at spaceports and planets to ask around would be expensive, but she said she had the units to cover it, apparently from whatever she had be doing for the past two weeks. Thor was barely paying attention to what she was saying. He found himself staring at her lips and hoped it would just read as attentiveness. He reminded himself over and over again: just friends, just friends, just friends. He could do this.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and the next few reference a storyline that takes place in the comics, specifically that of _Captain Marvel Vol 1: Higher, Further, Faster, More_. It's been adapted slightly to fit into the MCU canon. You don't need to have read it, I explain everything you need to know.

As much as she had wanted to take Mantis up on her offer, Carol knew it would have raised questions. No, it was better to accept the potential for alone time with Thor than the scrutiny of the rest of the crew. Both of them seemed to be trying to avoid the other and she hoped it wasn’t too noticeable to the rest of the crew. She had spent much of the last two weeks trying to convince herself that she as not falling in love with him. She’d read his messages but couldn’t find the words to reply, so she didn’t. The first had been conversational, asking how she was doing, saying he missed her. Later messages had alluded to, but never directly mentioned, the kiss and said he hoped that they could still be friends. Then the messages had stopped, and she didn’t quite know what that meant.

He hadn’t said more than a handful of words to her since she had returned. She wondered if she’d thrown away that friendship for good. His appearance had been a bit of a shock. The slimming down, the short hair; she wondered if she had anything to do with this new look, or rather, a return to previous form. She had to keep herself from staring at first, and though she would still occasionally find herself regarding his forearms or—good lord—that ass, for the most part she was successfully ignoring his form.

All that came crashing down one morning. She was laying in bed later than usual, staring at the ceiling above her, thinking about the mission—and trying not to think about him. Thor had gone out of the room earlier, and when she heard the back door open she looked over, only to catch a glimpse of Thor entering with nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips. Quickly she laid back as flat as she could, knowing the rail of the top bunk would hide her. She heard him moving around a bit, and then nothing. She peeked over the rail and saw him standing, back to her, in front of the full-length mirror hanging on one wall of the room. He appeared to be trimming his beard.

She willed herself to look away and lay back down, but her body wouldn’t obey. Her eyes slowly worked their way from his toned, broad shoulders, down along his muscular back, to his narrow waist and his abs reflected in the mirror. He looked impossible, like he had been chiseled out of marble; well, he was a god after all. As she lay there, drinking in the sight of him, she noticed the towel beginning to slip. It’s movements were infinitesimally small, but slowly more and more was revealed. The curve of the top of his buttocks; the ‘V’ heading down to his groin, the ends of which were getting closer by the second. She knew she should look away, but she couldn’t. She wasn’t sure what was holding it on and it seemed about to drop off when there was a knock at the door. She caught a glimpse of Thor grabbing the towel and pulling it back up as he turned toward the door before she flattened herself in the bed.

“Is Carol in there?” Gamora asked from the door. Carol could practically hear her eyebrows raising at the sight of Thor.

“I haven’t seen her,” he replied.

“Well if you do, tell her I’m looking for her?”

“Sure,” he said, and Carol heard the door close again.

“You got that, right?” he said. Carol froze. Who was he talking to? It couldn’t be her... could it? “You’re really terrible at hiding, by the way.”

She sat up, propping herself up in the bed on one arm. “You knew I was here?!” He was looking at her, towel now securely fastened around his hips, and she fought to keep her eyes focused on his.

“It’s a mirror, Carol. I could see you looking over the edge of the bed,” he said matter-of-factly.

Well, that was embarrassing. “How long were you going to let me lay there?” she demanded.

He shrugged. “How long were you planning to? You do realize in order to get dressed I have to take the towel off?”

She looked away, knowing she was turning bright red but unable to stop it. “Fair,” she managed eventually, then added in a defensive tone, “I would have turned away.”

“Of course,” he replied, clearly trying to suppress a grin, and turned his attention again to his beard.

Carol flopped back down on the bed. The only thing she could do now is take her wounded pride and get out of there ASAP. After a moment she found the gap in the rail and jumped down. When she turned, she found he had walked over without her realizing and now stood inches away from her. Her breath caught in her throat. She didn’t trust herself to meet his eyes at this distance, their faces so close together, so she looked down. Her eyes slowly traveled over his bare torso, coming to rest on the faint scar from the vibranium shard she had pulled out of him. Her hand moved seemingly on its own, fingers shaking as they reaching out toward the scar. Her fingers brushed his skin and she felt him tremble under her touch. Only a few seconds later he grabbed her hand in his. She looked up at him, but his face was unreadable. The air in the room felt heavy and charged, like the atmosphere before a storm. She found it hard to breathe.

Pulling her hand from his, she whispered, “I better go find Gamora.” Then she fled the room.

****

Gamora knew Thor and Quill had been working out together, and she had noticed Thor’s rapid weight loss, but she didn’t really realize the extent of it until she found Thor in just a towel. Damn, that man was _impressive._ In another universe she might have been quite taken with him, but there were so many reasons not to even consider it. Nebula had told her that Thor and Quill’s amicability was a recent development, and even though she had firmly put a stop on things with Quill, the fallout of such a choice wouldn’t be good for anyone. Of course even if she tried to go after him she thought it would be unlikely to go anywhere. No one could figure out what had been going on with him when Carol left, but it was undeniably related to her. So she admired Thor’s toned arms when no one else was looking. Quill had noticeably shaped up as well, but lacking the metabolism of a god definitely slowed things down.

Of course, when confronted he had claimed that he wasn’t doing it for her, but just to feel better. These days, it was a typical response. The exotic flowers he picked up at their last stop weren’t for _her_ , but to cheer everyone up. Local delicacies, all Gamora’s favorites, were similarly communal. Despite this, once he hadn’t been able to help himself. After one stop on a planet know for it’s metalwork he had nervously presented her with a gorgeous bracelet worked in vibranium. She really liked it but had planned on refusing it anyway until he showed her how it transformed into a multi-bladed weapon. In a moment of madness she had kissed him on the cheek, causing him to beam with happiness. Now the bracelet almost never left her wrist, to his further delight.

“I heard you were looking for me?” Carol asked as she walked up to where Gamora stood over a map. She looked a bit shaken, clutching her right hand in her left in an odd manner.

“Are you all right?” Gamora asked.

“I’m fine. Why? Do I not seem all right?” Carol replied defensively.

Gamora decided not to pry, and shook her head. “Never mind. I wanted to talk to you about a job.”

“Something come up recently?”

“We may have the chance to do some of your reconnaissance. We’ve gotten a request from a planet under Kree rule, though the job doesn’t involve them,” Gamora explained, pulling up a map. “Here. Torfa.”

Carol looked at her sharply. “Are you sure the Kree aren’t involved?”

“Pretty sure. Why?”

“Torfa is a border planet, and the Kree are very defensive of it. Why wouldn’t the Torfans just ask the Supreme Intelligence for help?”

Gamora shrugged. “We asked. They claim that the Kree told them it wasn’t worth pursuing.”

“What do they want?”

“Not a what, but a who: Their defense minister. A woman named Ja Kyee Lrurt.”  
  
Carol’s eyes went wide. “Jackie?! I find it hard to believe anyone would get the upper hand on her.”

“They think someone drugged her. You know her?” Gamora asked.

“You could say that. Torfa has a history of subjugation. There was period when the Kree lost control of it to another empire. I helped them regain their independence and destroy the vibranium mine that was causing widespread sickness. Jackie was their best pilot and a brilliant mechanic.” Carol sighed. “Years later I found out they made a deal with the Kree to prevent a full takeover and for protection. Fat lot of good that’s doing, apparently.”

“Well I guess you’re interested in helping, then…”

“You couldn’t keep me away,” Carol replied. 

“Do we have a job?” Thor asked, entering the room. Gamora saw Carol stiffen at the sound of his voice. Yes, there was definitely something going on there, but she knew she wasn’t going to get answers out of Carol.

“Another rescue mission,” Gamora told him.

“Another beautiful woman?” Drax asked as he walked up to them.

Gamora could see the reference to Ilora rankled Carol. “Jackie is a goddess,” Carol said eventually, arms crossed in front of her. “She also has a wife who she adores. We should get going.” With that she walked off toward the cockpit.

Drax was still standing with her and Thor, but Gamora wanted to talk to Thor alone. She gave Drax a look. He sent a questioning look back. She made a tiny gesture with her head and her eyes toward the door. He still looked at her questioningly, so she did it again. Finally she gave up.

“Drax, don’t you have something to take care of? Somewhere else?”

“I don’t…” he started, then finally got her point. “Oh yes. Something. Somewhere else,” he said, then walked out of the room.

Thor gave a small laugh. “That guy is so weird.”

“So,” Gamora said, getting to the point. “What’s going on?”

“What?” he replied with a confused smile.

“With you and Carol.”

The smile became a forced grin. “Nothing’s going on. Why—why would you say that? Did she say something’s going on?”

“She didn’t need to say anything. Both of you are acting strange around each other. I’m not blind,” she retorted.

He shook his head. “Nothing’s going on,” he repeated. “Carol and I are friends.”

“Right.”

“What’s going on with you and Quill?” he shot back.

Gamora fiddled with the bracelet. “Don’t change the subject. If you’re going to claim that you’re friends you should act more like it,” she suggested, then turned and left him standing with his mouth open, unable to come up with a reply.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the Torfans are from the comics. Here are some images of them! [Gil!](https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Gil_\(Earth-616\)) [Jackie!](https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Ja_Kyee_Lrurt_\(Earth-616\)) [Eleanides!](https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Eleanides_\(Earth-616\))

Thor had never been to Torfa before, and he wasn’t surprised. A planet made of refugees from across the universe, it had little to offer a traveler. The buildings were crumbling, the populace dressed in drab rough-spun clothing. Carol led them through the winding streets with ease, her familiarity obvious. As they approached the parliamentary building, a large man with goat’s horns emerged, looking distressed. When he looked up and saw them his face brightened with surprise.

“Carol?!” he yelled, hurrying toward them.

Carol grinned as she gave him a hug. “Gil! It’s been a while!”

“You could say that. I assume you’re here because of Jackie,” Gil said, anguish overtaking his face again.

“Yes, I heard,” Carol said gently, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I can’t believe it.”  
  
“None of us can. It came out of the blue,” the big man said, shaking his head. “Who are your friends?”  
  
Carol looked as if she had forgotten the Guardians were behind her. “Oh! Gil, these are the Guardians of the Galaxy. Guys, this is Gil. We go back a ways.”

“How did you two meet?” Mantis asked.

Gil laughed. “I punched her in the face. Twice!” The Guardians all looked at each other, surprised at this statement.

“And then I mopped the floor with _your_ face,” Carol shot back playfully. Whatever had happened, it hadn’t left any hard feelings.

“You have to let me take you and your friends to our new club this evening,” Gil insisted.

“Of course,” Carol grinned. “Good to see you again, Gil.”

“And you. Good luck,” he said, then headed off down the street.

Carol led the way up the steps of the building and the Guardians followed her. Thor looked behind him at the retreating form of Gil. He would never admit it, but he feelings of jealousy welled up in him watching his interactions with Carol. Their relationship was so genuine and easy, but Thor still found himself bristling when Gil bragged about punching her even though it apparently no longer bothered Carol. One more reason not to like this dump of a planet.

“Eleanides!” Carol called as they entered the building. A tall, thin, lizard-like woman with a scaly frill that fell like hair behind her stood over a desk, looking at a sheet of paper. She looked up and gave a wide smile.

“Carol. I didn’t call you.”

“I don’t know why not. You know how much I care for Jackie,” Carol scolded the intimidating woman in front of her.

Eleanides tipped her head to the side and gave a small frown. “We didn’t want to bother you. I see you brought the Guardians of the Galaxy with you.”

Carol turned to the assembled crew. “This is the president of Torfa. Madame, these are the Guardians.”

“I thank you for coming. Jackie is very dear to all of us,” the president told them.

“Who could have done this?” Carol asked.

Eleanides shook her head. “We do not know. We haven’t had problems since we accepted the rule of the Kree.”

“You know I have Opinions about that,” Carol said.

“I know, dear. We had little option.”

“I could have helped you! I’ve done it before!” she protested.

“It is better this way. We are not a strong people,” Eleanides replied. “What is done is done.”

Carol did not look satisfied with this answer, but she didn’t pursue it. “Who was the last to see Jackie?”

“Pudliara, of course. She is very distraught.”  
  
“Well, that’s where we’ll start. Thank you Eleanides,” Carol said, clasping hands with the president.

“Thank you, and your friends. Bring her back to us.”

Carol led them to Jackie’s house, a small but tidy cottage at the edge of the city. Pieces of ships and junked hulls were scattered about her property, which Rocket looked at with interest. Pudliara turned out to be a woman with a head of snake-like cords that writhed on her head. She gave Carol a hug, sobbing as she told of what she knew: nothing. While they chatted Thor and the rest of the Guardians looked around the property, hoping for a clue.

“Carol!” Nebula called, and the rest of them came as well. She had found a boot print in the dirt outside a window and dribbling of some strange fluid.

Carol crouched down and stuck her finger in the liquid, then sniffed it. “Spartax? It couldn’t be…”

“What’s ‘Spartax’?” Quill asked.

“Who. They used to rule here, before we kicked them to the curb. This smells like a particular liquor they make. Maybe they used it to drug her. I don’t know what they would want with Jackie, though. That was years ago,” Carol explained, standing up.

“Then we must go to Spartax. Demand her return,” Drax proposed.

“Hold your horses,” Carol said.

Drax gave her a confused look. “I have no horses to hold.”

“I know… nevermind,” she sighed, putting her hand on the bridge of her nose. “Just wait. The Spartax Empire is very powerful, and unlikely to take kindly to such accusations. It may not even be a sanctioned kidnapping, as much as I hate to admit.”

“You’re saying someone might have a personal vendetta against this Jackie?” Rocket asked.

Carol shrugged. “She wasn’t shy about bragging about her role in bringing down the enemy ships. It’s possible.”

“So what now?” Gamora inquired.

“Now we ask around to find out who she might have been bragging to recently. And I know just where to go.”

****

The club was crowded, and almost everyone seemed to know Carol. The Guardians were left without much to do, knowing people would be more likely to talk to someone they already knew. Fortunately, it was a club, and there were drinks. Now Quill was dancing up a storm out on the floor, trying to get an implacable Gamora to come out with him. He had apparently made some new friends, though, as he jumped and shook his hips, because a collection of different species had collected around him. Nebula and Gamora had retreated to a corner; Rocket and Drax had found a gaming table, with Groot trailing behind.

Thor was leaning up against the bar, nursing a drink and fending off the advances of nubile young women. He watched Carol as she moved around the room, laughing with old friends and sharing concern over Jackie.

“I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced,” Gil said beside him.

Thor looked over at the man next to him. Close up he was even larger than he had seemed before, a head taller than Thor and at least half again as wide. He was holding out a hand, and Thor took it even though he’d rather not. “Thor Odinson.”

“The Thor Odinson? God of Thunder?” Gil asked.

“The same,” Thor replied, giving his hand a crushing squeeze. Gil apparently gave as good as he got, though, because soon it was Thor’s hand in a vise.

Gil withdrew his hand with a smirk. “So, how long have you known Carol?”

“Just over five years,” Thor told him, looking back out at the crowd. Now where had Carol got to?

Gil was silent beside him and Thor hoped maybe the conversation was done. It was not. “You’re popular with the ladies tonight,” he commented as Thor declined another dance invitation.

Thor shrugged, but didn’t say anything more.

“I just want to be clear about something,” Gil said, and Thor glanced over at him. “If you break Carol’s heart, I will make you regret it.”

Thor laughed nervously. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’ve seen how you look at her. Tonight you’ve barely taken your eyes off her, despite the attention you’ve gotten.”

“I’m just looking out for a friend.”

“Right,” Gil said sarcastically.

Thor shook his head and rounded on the other man, pointing a finger at his chest. “Look, I don’t know who you think you are, but Carol and I are just friends, not that it’s any of your business. I suggest you back off. I’ve ended bastards much bigger than you without breaking a sweat.”

“Just looking out for a friend,” Gil replied nonchalantly, then added menacingly, “I meant what I said.”

Before Thor could reply he walked off. Thor grumbled then drained his drink and slammed the glass on the bar.

“Don’t mind Gil, he takes a bit to warm up to,” Carol said behind him.

Thor jumped and whirled around. “What?”

“You and Gil. You were talking and now I’m pretty sure there’s a storm brewing outside,” she said with smirk.

“I’m fine,” he replied defensively, then sighed. “Really. Find out anything useful?”  
  
“Maybe. One of the Sentimault said they saw a man that looked to be Spartoi wandering around here a couple of days ago. Said he was talking to a Kree soldier, which is troubling.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Is the soldier still here?”

“He should be posted nearby. Want to check it out?” she asked.

“Should we tell the others?”

Carol glanced around to where they all were engaged in their various activities. “Nah, let them stay. A big group would just draw attention.”

She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door. Her hand felt hot in his and he tried to keep his heart from pounding. On their way out he saw Gil near the door, and the goat-man narrowed his eyes and pointed threateningly at the god. Outside the crowded club he could breathe easier in the fresh air. He was still letting himself be dragged by the hand, and Carol turned half around and gave him a small smile. He couldn’t help but smile back. This was the most relaxed they had been around each other since she had returned, and it felt nice. She slowed a bit and they walked side-by-side, still holding hands.

They heard voices as they got closer to where the soldier should be posted. She dropped his hand and he suppressed a feeling of disappointment. They crouched down around the corner from the men. Carol pulled up a panel on her forearm and tapped a few times. Her suit rapidly changed colors to green, grey, and black. Thor raised his eye brows in surprise; he had no idea that the suit had that capability.

She grinned. “Kree colors,” she whispered, then she stood up and walked around the corner.

Thor could just see her and two Kree soldiers through a gap in the wall. She walked up to them, fully confident. “Vers. Starforce.”

The soldiers snapped to attention. “Captain. What are you doing out in this shithole?”

“What did you say?” Carol asked dangerously.

The one who had spoken looked uncertain. “I just meant this place.”  
  
“Are you complaining about your assignment, soldier?”

“N–no sir.”

“All parts of the Kree empire are glorious, are they not?” Carol asked.

“Yes sir,” the soldier replied, suitably chastened. Her performance was impressive.

Carol strode around. “We’ve had a report that a Torfan native has gone missing.”

“And they sent Starforce for that?” the other soldier asked. She shot him a deadly look, and he muttered, “Sorry sir.”

“Yes, one has gone missing,” the original soldier confirmed.

“Not just anyone. A government officer,” Carol told them.

The soldiers looked at each other nervously. “W–we didn’t know that.”  
  
“No, I don’t suppose you would,” she said, staring down at them. Thor was still watching from behind the wall, entranced by her performance. Great Odin, she was hot when she did this. Her confidence was one of the things that first drew him to her those years ago.

“What should we do, sir?” the first soldier asked.

“You were seen talking to a man two days ago. _Spartoi_ scum,” she spat the word. “You did not report this.”

“We didn’t know he was Spartoi, sir.”

Carol arched an eyebrow. “You’d be careful not to admit that, soldier.”

“Yes sir.”

“Well, what did he say?” she asked.

“He said that he was about to make right on an old grudge. That his father had been killed here.”  
  
“Anything else?”

The soldiers looked at each other. “I–I don’t think so, sir,” one said.

Carol gave a curt nod. “Very well. Back to your posts. And I suggest that not speak of any of this to anyone else. Things will go badly for you if you are seen to have helped a Spartoi kidnap a subject of the Kree empire.”  
  
“But we didn’t help him!” the second soldier objected.

“I know this, of course. But others may not be so understanding,” Carol said magnanimously.

“Yes sir. Thank you sir.”

Carol dismissed them and walked back around the corner. “Well, that was less helpful than I would have hoped,” she muttered as she approached Thor. “But I suppose it’s a start.”

“How are we going to know who was fighting here for the Spartoi?” he asked.

Before she could answer the question, the two soldiers came barreling around the corner. “Captain! Captain?” they said in confusion when they saw Thor.

“This man was spying on us. I was just questioning him,” Carol explained easily.

“Do you need us to take him prisoner?” one soldier asked.

Thor was relieved when Carol shook her head. “No, this man has been following me since I arrived on Torfa. I will need to take him back to Hala for further interrogation.” Then she grabbed his wrist and spun him around, clapping a pair of manacles on his arms. Where had those come from? “Now,” she said, “what did you need to tell me?”  
  
“We remembered!” the other soldier beamed proudly. “He said a quick death was too good for her. That he was going to sell her to someone…”

“On Sakaar!” the other soldier finished.

“The Grandmaster!” Thor said before he could stop himself. He looked at the soldiers, who were looking at Carol. Then she slugged him, hard, across the face.

“Silence, scum!” she spat.

He saw stars and his ears were ringing. The voices sounded distant as Carol thanked the soldiers and dismissed them again. She grabbed his elbow and hauled him forcefully down the street. When they were sufficiently far away she stopped, checking all around them for anyone who might be listening.

His face ached from where she had hit him. She had come up close to him and was reaching out gingerly toward what could only be a monster bruise forming. Her fingers barely brushed it, causing him to wince and pull away, not only from the pain.

“Sorry,” she said, “I had to sell it.”

“I think you sold it. Can you take these things off now?” he asked, gesturing to the manacles.

She shook her head apologetically. “Not until we get back to the ship. There will be too many questions if we run into another Kree.”

He groaned. This was not how he thought this would go. As he was standing there, head pounding, she reached up and kissed him lightly on the cheekbone where she had hit him. He was too out of it to register what was happening until it had happened. Then she was pulling away and he could still feel her lips on his skin. This time she took his arm gently and they walked together down the street toward the Benatar. The Guardians had already returned to the ship by the time Thor and Carol arrived. As they walked onto the ship eyes went wide to see her in Kree colors escorting a bound and beaten Thor.

“I don’t want to know what kinda kinky shit you guys are into,” Rocket snarked at them.

Carol glared at him dangerously. “Shut it, fur face.”

She moved behind Thor to release the manacles, and he rubbed his wrists once they were free. “We got a lead on Jackie,” he told them. “The last place in the universe I want to go back to.”

“Sakaar,” Carol offered as the rest of them looked at him in confusion. She tapped her left forearm and her suit reconfigured itself back to its previous colors. “I posed as a Kree to get information out of some soldiers.”

“And what happened to him?” Quill asked, gesturing at Thor. “Did one of them punch him?”  
  
“No, that was me,” Carol said with a smirk and a shrug. “He was my prisoner. He spoke out of turn. I did what any Kree would do.”

Rocket was sniggering and Thor glared at him. “Laugh all you want, rabbit. I’d like to see you take that shot.”

“Grow up,” Nebula told them. “The nearest jump point to Sakaar is six hours away. We need to get moving.”


	11. Chapter 11

Even though they flew into Sakaar instead of being dumped unceremoniously in the junk yard, Carol could tell Thor was agitated at the return. He was pacing the ship and pulling up scans of the surrounding airspace constantly as if something might have changed in the last few minutes. The Grandmaster’s tower loomed over the horizon with the gladiatorial arena next to it, and Carol noticed a face that was not quite like the Hulk she knew gracing the tower. She had heard bits and pieces of the story of what had happened to him and Thor here, but most of it was a mystery. Thor was leaning over the screens and watching their approach, his shoulders tense. She walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“We’re in and out. There won’t be time for trouble,” she told him.

He glanced at her, but he did not seem reassured. “Sakaar is nothing but trouble. Watch out for obedience disks.”

“Obedience disks?”  
  
Thor rubbed the right side of his neck unconciously. “Used to control the slaves, and to make them. They fry you with electricity.”

“I think I’ll be ok,” Carol said with a smirk.

“Don’t be so sure,” he replied, not smiling. He turned to her, and took one of her hands in his. “Stay on your guard. The Grandmaster has agents everywhere.”

“You could stay on the ship, we just need a small team…” she suggested.

He shook his head. “No, you need me in there. The geometry is kind of freaky. I wouldn’t want to lose you,” he said, then his eyes went wide and he looked down, “I—uh—I mean I wouldn’t want you to get lost. Because it’s easy to get lost in there.”

“Well someone has to stay with the ship to keep the junkers from making off with parts,” Quill said as he walked up to them. Thor had still been holding her hand but both of them pulled back quickly at the interruption and Carol could feel her face get hot. “Did I interrupt something?” Quill asked when he saw them.

“I’ll stay with the ship,” Nebula said, rescuing Thor and Carol from the question. “I have my own parts to protect.”

“Drax and Groot should stay too,” Thor added.

“I am not afraid,” Drax said, looking at him like he was an imbecile, “the Sakaaran people are weak.”  
  
“It’s not the people you have to be afraid of,” Thor told him, “It’s the scrappers. Most of them aren’t Sakaaran. You’d be a prize get for the gladiator pool.”

“Ah, they could not resist me. I understand now. I will stay.”

“So I should stay back too then?” Quill asked. Everyone looked at him, unsure of what to say to this, as Rocket put the ship down on the surface. “Ah hell with it, let’s go,” Quill said, turning toward the descending ramp.

****

Gamora had a bad feeling about this place. She had been on a lot of terrible planets doing something for Thanos, but none of them quite felt like this. Thor had told them that there was a bar under the arena that was the only place you could get close to the slaves, so that was where they were headed. She kept her hand on her knife and her body alert.

“I wouldn’t drink that stuff,” Thor told Rocket as the raccoon headed eagerly toward the bar. “We have a job, remember?”  
  
Rocket waved him off, but turned away from the bar all the same. “You’re such a killjoy.”

“If you want to spend the rest of your life fighting in this contest, be my guest, but you won’t last that long.”

“How hard could it be to escape? You did it,” Rocket taunted.

Thor growled, but Carol hushed them. A group of gladiators were checking out weapons in advance of the fight. She walked over to the barricade and called over to them. “Anyone know a woman named Jackie?”

“Jackie?” a cyclops replied, considering. “Yeah, I think there’s a Jackie. New here. Fierce. Weird hair.”

“That’s the one,” Carol said excitedly. “Where is she?”

“About to face the Grandmaster’s Champion,” another alien put in.

Thor walked up to the barricade. “And who would that be?”

“They call him New Hulk,” the cyclops offered. “Not as green, though.”

Thor was about to say something when a roar erupted from above them. “It’s starting,” Carol said. “What’s the fastest way to get up there?”

“From the air,” Thor told them.

“Ok, I’ll go in that way,” Carol said, then turned to leave.

“Wait!” Thor yelled after her. “She’ll still have her obedience disc on. If you don’t get that off it won’t matter if you pull her out of there or not. You need a control unit.”

“So where do we get a control unit?” Gamora asked.

“You either take down a guard or a scrapper, but if you alert them to our plan they’ll reset the frequency.”  
  
Gamora eyed the guard standing on the other side of the barricade, but there were too many people around.

“Look,” Rocket said, pointing at Carol. “You get the woman, we’ll get the control unit.”

Carol was already halfway to the door. “Good enough for me!” she called.

Gamora looked at the guard behind the barricade and thought a moment. Then, hoping the others would follow her lead, she walked up to him.

“Hey, you. Big guy. Yeah, you,” she called to the guard. “ _you_ couldn’t help me with something, could you?” She swallowed her disgust and leaned seductively on the bars.

The guard glanced at her, but didn’t take the bait. “Sorry ma’am.”

“But if you would just come over here, maybe I could convince you…”

He looked at her again, then around the room. Most of the gladiators had gone out. He walked over to the barricade and looked at her. “And how would you do that?”

Thankfully Mantis at least had figured out what she was doing. The guard was standing sideways so as to keep his eyes on both the gladiators and Gamora, but he didn’t see Mantis slip up behind him and grab his head. As he fell asleep he started crumpling toward the ground and Gamora caught him. Thor rushed over and snatched a gold rectangle off the guard before Gamora lowered him so he was sitting against the barricade.

“Got it, let’s go,” Thor said, and they all turned to make haste out of the bar.

"Was that really necessary?" Quill asked her as they walked.

Gamora shot him a look. "It worked, didn't it?"

Quill nodded but he didn't look happy about it. The crowd in the arena was still roaring. They heard a few crashes but couldn’t be certain what was going on. Carol hadn't returned to the ship, and Nebula looked at them curiously when they came running back onto the Benatar.

“Where’s Danvers?” she asked.

“In the arena,” Quill replied. “Let’s get up there so we can keep an eye on her. She’ll find us.” He pointed to the other ships hovering above the arena.

From above, the figures on the floor of the arena were tiny. Gamora peered out of the open rear hatch of the Benatar, watching the scene below. She could see Carol glowing in the middle, with a woman lying beside her and a huge brute crumpled against a far wall. Guards surrounded them. As she watched Thor walked up beside her, holding the control unit.

“What’s the range on those things?” Gamora asked him.

He shrugged. “I’ve never tested one.”

She took it from him and depressed the release button. Nothing seemed to change on the surface. Nebula walked up with a pair of binoculars and looked down.

“It seems like Jackie is being electrocuted by something,” she said as she adjusted them.

“That’s the obedience disc. We need to get closer,” Thor replied.  
  
“No way,” Rocket yelled from the cockpit of the ship, “it’s too dangerous.”

“Do it!” Thor demanded.

Rocket reluctantly brought them closer in a wide arc. They could see the guards getting closer, a net sparking with electricity held between them. Carol was blasting them and was barely managing to keep them at bay, but they seemed to be endlessly replenished by the ranks behind them. The crowd roared louder as they watched the Benatar zoom down into the arena. It was clear this was an unusual turn of events in one of the bouts. They were flying low enough now that Gamora could see Jackie and Carol clearly. She tried the release button again, but nothing happened.

“Are you sure that this is the right thing?” she yelled over the din of the crowd.

“I’m sure!” Thor yelled back. “We’re not close enough!”

Carol looked up at them then, and before Rocket could drop the ship any lower she paused to grab Jackie and shot up to the open hatch. In the gap of blasts the guards had managed to get off a shot from one of their weapons and Carol faltered in the air as an electrified chain wrapped itself around her leg and stuck firmly.

“Carol!” Thor yelled, clearly frustrated at his inability to do anything.

A few seconds later Carol appeared again below the ship, pain written across her face a she flew at them. They crashed into the open bay and Gamora pressed the release switch another time as the ship rocketed out of the arena. The devices released their hold and the two women relaxed. Carol pushed herself up on her hands and looked up at the Guardians standing above her.

“We can’t leave them there,” she managed, breathing heavily.

They looked at her incredulously. “What? Who?”

“The other slaves. We have to go back for them.” She struggled to her feet.

“He’ll just get more,” Thor replied. “Believe me. You want to stop it, you have to take him out. But we can’t do it now.”

Gamora could tell Carol was not satisfied by this answer. “Promise me we’ll come back for him. Promise me, Thor,” she demanded, grabbing Thor by the wrist.

“I promise,” he said softly.

Beside them, Jackie coughed as she regained consciousness. Carol bent down and grabbed her arm to help her up. “Jackie! Jackie are you ok?”

“Carol? Is that you?” the woman coughed. She looked around at the ragtag crew of people standing around her. “Where am I? Who are these people?”

“You’re safe,” Carol said, smiling at her. “We rescued you. These are my friends. They helped, but it was mostly me.”

“Hey!” Quill yelled, but Jackie laughed.

“It _is_ you. Did Gil send you?” she asked, her hair moving slowly on it’s own. “You didn’t need to come all this way. I coulda gotten out.”

“Yeah, you were on your way out all right,” Carol replied sarcastically.

“Thank you,” Jackie said genuinely, holding Carol’s arm. “I could have definitely taken that guy they wanted me to fight, though.”

“Trust me, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Thor told her. She looked at him curiously, and he offered a hand, “Thor. I and a friend were enslaved by the Grandmaster once.”

“And you escaped?” Jackie replied, clearly impressed, as she shook his hand.

Thor gave a half smile. “We had some help.”

“Ever held the hand of a goddess before?” Jackie quipped.

Thor grinned. “My mother, for one. So what are you the goddess of?”  
  
“Uh, building weapons?” she suggested.

“Works for me,” Thor laughed. “Glad we could get you out of there.”

“Me, too. And the rest of you are…?” Jackie asked, looking at the crew.

Quill answered. “You can just call us the Guardians of the Galaxy.”

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet all of you. Now is there somewhere I could wash off this paint?” she asked, gesturing to the blue stripes on her face.

“I’ll show you,” Carol said, putting hand on her friend’s shoulder. They walked off, leaving the rest of them standing in the loading bay.

“Let’s never do that again, ok?” Quill said.

Gamora looked at Thor, who was staring off darkly into space. Clearly he had no desire to return but he had promised Carol. The Guardians had made no such promise, but she thought it was likely that they might be roped into it all the same. They all walked forward as the ship powered toward a jump point, and back to Torfa.

****

"So how'd you know I was there?" Jackie asked Carol as they walked. "I don't even know how I got there."

"You disappeared from Torfa, so of course everyone believed you were kidnapped. Eleanides sent out a request for help, and the Guardians picked it up. I happened to just be with them, but it was a good thing I was."

Jackie nodded. "I only got a glimpse of the guy that kidnapped me. He looked Spartoi?"

"Yeah, the son of a man who died in the operation that sent them packing from Torfa years ago. He sold you to the Grandmaster," Carol explained. "How many slaves would you say were down in the dungeons?"

Shrugging, Jackie replied, "I'm not really sure. There are mulitple holding areas. A few dozen at least, and it seems like new ones came in every day I was there. Why? You gonna go back and bust them out?"  
  
"You know me so well," Carol said with a smile. "First we have to get you home, though. Gil might crush you to death in a hug."

Jackie laughed, and they walked together for a bit in familiar silence. "So what's new with you besides the hair cut and the not being a loner anymore?" she asked after a while.

"Nothing much, really. And this is a temporary thing," she replied, gesturing to the ship around them.

"Were you involved in that thing were a bunch of people disappeared and then five years later—POP—they were back?"

Carol smirked at the description. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"When big shit like that happens you _know_ Captain Marvel had to be involved," Jackie reasoned. “How’d you end up hanging with them? Doesn’t seem like your usual style.”

“It’s a long story. But they’re good people.”

“It’s the handsome one, isn’t it? Thor, was it?” Jackie said with a mischievous grin.

“What? No! Jackie! C’mon.”  
  
“I may be gay but I’m not blind. The way you look at each other when the other one isn’t paying attention… damn, girl.”

Carol rolled her eyes. “You’ve been here for like 20 minutes.”

“Which should tell you how painfully obvious it is.”

“We’re just friends,” Carol protested.

Jackie looked at her for a moment, then shook her head. “Whatever you say. Invite me to the wedding, though, yeah?”  
  
“JACKIE!”


	12. Chapter 12

Gamora was sitting on a bench, reading about Sakaar, when Quill approached her. She ignored him, so he cleared his throat quietly, trying to get her attention. Eventually she sighed and looked up at him.   
  
“If this is about how I got the control unit…” she began in a warning tone.

“It is, but it’s not what you think,” he said quickly, holding up his hands. She raised an eyebrow in reply. “Look, I’m sorry. About what I said. You did what you had to do, and it was none of my business.”

She stared at him for a moment as he waited for her response. “I’m impressed.”  
  
“You should be, because I’m gonna be honest with you I never would have said that five years ago,” he replied with grin.

Gamora found herself unexpectedly smiling in response. “So if I had to seduce another guard, you wouldn’t say anything?”

“Nope.”  
  
“What about if I decided to chat with another guy at a bar?”

Quill looked uncomfortable. “Because you need something from him or because you are, erm, attracted to him?”  
  
“The latter,” Gamora replied, enjoying watching him squirm.

He gulped. “I–I’d be ok with it.”

“And what about if I wanted to bring him back to the ship?”

“Look, I’m trying to be a big person here, but that is too much…” he trailed off as Gamora burst into laughter. “Wh—Oh ha ha very funny.”

“I’m sorry Peter,” Gamora said between laughs. “It was too easy.”

He looked like he was going to say something but before he could Carol came striding into the room, followed by the rest of the crew. She had been meeting with the president of Torfa after they dropped Jackie off, asking about the Kree occupation. She leaned on the table and looked around at them.

“Eleanides said they don’t get much news out here, so unfortunately they don’t know much about the Kree expansion. Did anyone else find out anything about the Kree while we were here?” she asked them.

Everyone shook their heads; most of the Torfans they had talked to knew little and less about the Kree’s plans.

“Actually, one of the girls I was dancing with was a Kree soldier,” Quill said. His crewmates gave him looks of outrage and disgust. “Hey! C’mon guys, even if I was available—which I’m not—I learned my lesson about Kree girls. I’d like to keep my thorax where it is. Anyway, she asked where I was from and I told her I was Terran. She said that maybe she’d visit there soon because it was gonna be part of the Kree empire.”

“Did she say when?” Carol asked with interest. “Any details?”  
  
Quill shook his head. “She wasn’t going to be part of the army going there. Anyway then she tried to stick her hands down my pants so I got away from that.”

Gamora didn’t know how she felt about this story. On one hand she had made Peter promise that they could be just friends. On the other, she felt a strong desire to go find that Kree girl and tear her hands off. She shook her head slightly, trying to clear out the thought.

Carol sighed. “Nothing we didn’t already suspect,” she muttered.

“There is a spaceport nearby where lots of Kree soldiers hang out,” Gamora offered. “Thanos sent me there one time looking for Ronan.”

“Not just soldiers, _Accusers_ ,” Carol warned. “It’s too dangerous. And they _will_ recognize me.”

Gamora shrugged. “So you stay in the ship. If anyone knows what the Kree’s plans are with Terra it’s Accusers.”

“Yeah, we can take care of it,” Rocket put in.

“And they will certainly have heard of the raccoon, tree, terran, whatever he is,” she gestured at Drax, “and daughter of Thanos that defeated Ronan on Xandar. The Kree _love_ to gossip about that stuff.” Carol folded her arms in front of her.

“So I’ll go,” Nebula said. “All they would know about me is that I was loyal to Ronan.”

“The Kree aren’t part of the nine realms,” Thor added. “They won’t know me.”

Carol shook her head. “I don’t like it. We’re supposed to just watch. Asking questions…”

Nebula cut her off. “We’ll be careful. We probably won’t have this chance again. It’s worth the risk.”

Carol did not look convinced, but she gave a nod anyway.

****

The spaceport was indeed not far away, and they had pulled into a berth before too long. Carol found Thor in their room. He had changed from his armor to ravager gear, though the old jacket barely fit him. The red leather gave him a roguish look, and he had put on an eyepatch to cover his orange eye which only furthered the image. Nothing could make him not look like a god, though, and she still thought that he would stick out too much.

“What’s with the eyepatch?” she asked, walking over to him.

Thor grinned at her. “A disguise. This way they will not recognize me by my different-colored eyes.”  
  
Carol shook her head but smiled at him. “If they know who you are, an eyepatch isn’t going to fool them.” Then she frowned. “I still don’t like this, Thor. Maybe you shouldn’t go. Nebula can take care of herself.”  
  
“And I can’t?” he countered, arching an eyebrow at her.

“That’s not what I meant. I’m just…”

“Worried about me,” he finished, a hint of a smirk playing across his lips.

Carol huffed, arms crossed on her chest. “No! Well, yes. What if the Kree find out what you’re up to? They could start the invasion before Fury is ready.”

Thor reached out and put his hands on the sides of her arms. “I’ll be careful,” he promised.

The position felt intimate, and she could suddenly feel her heart beating in her chest. She thought of Jackie’s words. Was there something…? No. They had been through this. He was a friend. Friend. Friend. She said it in her head enough times that the word started to lose meaning. Eventually she pulled her attention back to the man in front of her.  
  
“I’ll be watching,” she told him. Rocket had managed to hack into the port’s security cameras, so she would at least be able to keep tabs on him. “If you need anything, you have any trouble, just say the word.”  
  
“They’ll know you,” he reminded her.

“I don’t care.”

He looked at her for a moment with a sparkle in his eye, then he let go of her and headed toward the door.

“Thor,” she called after him, and he stopped in the doorway and looked at her expectantly. _I think I might be falling in love with you_ , she thought. “Good luck,” is what she said.

He smiled at her in response, and she followed him to the common area of the ship. Nebula was waiting, clad in clothes she hadn’t worn since she was working for Ronan.

“Why are you wearing an eyepatch?” she asked.

“It’s a disguise!” Thor grinned.

“Alright pirate-angel,” Rocket said, “off with you two. Try not to screw everything up.”

Carol watched as Thor and Nebula left the ship, then immediately took up a position over Rocket’s shoulder, looking at the monitors. He followed them camera by camera as they walked toward the bar where the Kree Accusers would be gathered. They didn’t make it far. At the entrance to the bar a huge bouncer with tentacles for a beard blocked the door.

“Private club,” he grumbled, and Carol thought the plan was over.

“I was told friends of Ronan were always welcome here,” Nebula said in a husky voice.

The squid-man looked suspicious, but one of the Accusers inside recognized her. “Nebula? We thought you were dead.”

“Almost.”

“What have you been doing?” the man asked, clearly testing her.

Nebula looked bored. “After Ronan died, I spent my life hunting those responsible for his death. I was interrupted when I had to help my father fight the Avengers.”  
  
“I heard Thanos was responsible for half of everyone going away.”

“Oh no,” Nebula, appearing shocked that he would think such a thing, “That was the Avengers. Fortunately my father was able to reverse it, but it cost him his life.”

Carol could see Thor’s shoulders tense and his fist clench at this statement. “Keep it together…” she whispered at the screen.

“So what makes you think you can show your face here?” another Accuser added, having overheard the conversation.

Nebula had an evil look on her face. “Because I have a gift.” She indicated Thor standing beside her. “The Terran responsible for Ronan’s death.”

The Guardians inside the Benatar erupted into chaos.

“WHAT!?” Quill shouted, “No way! That was me!”

“Why would she do that!?” Mantis said, eyes wide.

“She is a traitor!” Drax yelled.

“I spent five years with her when the rest of you guys were dust. She’s not a traitor!” Rocket yelled back.

“Guys!” Carol shouted into their midst. She hadn’t taken her eyes off the screen. They all stopped and looked toward the video.

“ _This_ is the guy that held an infinity stone?” one of the men said. “Doesn’t look like much to me.”

Thor had clearly had enough of this. He lunged for the man who had spoke, decking him. The other Accusers in the bar got up and started closing in around him. Sparks jumped on his hand. Carol saw Nebula grab his arm and whisper something to him, and the electricity faded. Then, to everyone in the ship’s surprise, Thor let himself be captured with hardly a fight. The Accusers, however, were not satisfied. They surrounded him, blocking the camera’s view, kicking and beating the man inside the circle. Carol knuckles grew white as she gripped the desk in front of her. She knew why he wasn’t fighting back—revealing his superior strength would put the lie to what Nebula had said—but it was hard to watch.

“Hey, you’re putting dents in my ship!” Rocket said when he noticed her.

She looked down and saw that the desk now had permanent impressions of her hands, and pulled away. On the screen, the Accusers parted to reveal a beaten and bloody Thor. Carol scowled. The Accusers had been on her list for a loooong time, but now they had just made their way to the top. Several Accusers hauled him off while others attended to the man he had knocked unconscious. Now Rocket split the screens: one watching Nebula, the other following Thor being dragged through the spaceport. Carol was unable to tear her eyes away from Thor.

“Now _that_ deserves a welcome,” she heard the Accuser say on the other monitor, “your drinks are on the house tonight.”

She heard Nebula order a drink and start chatting with the first Accuser, who now seemed quite taken with her. Meanwhile the men dragging Thor had reached the entrance to the holding cells. They dropped him in front of the guards on duty, and then he was shoved through a door. The camera remained fixed on the closed door.

“What’s going on?” Carol demanded. “Why isn’t the camera switching?”

Rocket tapped a few keys. “It doesn’t look like there are any cameras inside.”

“No! We can’t lose sight of him!” she replied, agitated. She turned away from the screens and stormed off toward the rear hatch of the ship.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Quill asked.

“Accuser prisons are notoriously brutal. We can’t leave him here,” she replied as she dialed the Kree colors back onto her suit.

“You said yourself they would recognize you,” Gamora warned.

“I’ll go,” Quill offered, “they think they have me already anyways.”

Carol shook her head. “And do what? You saw what they did to Thor.”

“Because he didn’t fight back!” Quill argued.

Rocket stood up on his chair. “Any of us go blasting in there, this operation is toast. I seen Thor take the full blast of a star! He can take care of himself.”

“None of you know what it’s like in there,” Carol said quietly. “I’m not leaving him. I can’t.”

“You can’t go in there looking like that,” Gamora told her.

“Unless one of you has a wig, this is how I’m going in,” Carol replied.

“Oh!” Quill said, pulling open a drawer and rummaging through it. After a moment he produced a long black wig. “A girl left this here.”  
  
“Quill!” Drax scolded.

Quill waved him off. “It was like 10 years ago!”

“Why do you still have it?!” Rocket exclaimed.  
  
“I don’t know, I forgot it was in there!” Quill answered defensively.

Carol strode over and grabbed the wig out of his hand, then situated it over her hair. “How do I look?” she asked with a wry grin.

“Like a Kree whore,” Drax offered.

“Thanks, Drax,” she replied sarcastically. She turned to Rocket. “My comms are on. Let me know if anything changes.”

Before anyone could answer she left the ship. As she walked she saw people whispering as she passed, but she had to assume it was the oddity of seeing a lone Starforce member on this spaceport. She could hear Nebula’s voice over the comms and, faintly, the replies of the Accuser she was with.

“So, where are you off to next?” Nebula asked conversationally.

“About to go teach those Terrans a lesson. C-53 is toast,” he gloated.

“Oh?” Nebula replied, sounding disinterested.

“Yeah, we’re all headed there in a couple of weeks.”  
  
“I wouldn’t think more than a few accuser ships would be necessary to subdue them,” she mused.

“That’s what I thought but the Supreme Intelligence wants all of us there. Said they have a history of being stubborn.”

“I’ll say.”

Well, at least they got what they came for. Now they needed to get out of there. Carol headed down the hall that she knew was the way to the holding cells; she had brought prisoners here before, back when she was a member of Starforce, and just the thought made her sick to her stomach. She stopped in front of the guard.

“I got a flag that you have a prisoner we’ve been looking for,” she told them.

The guard raised an eyebrow at her. “Who?”  
  
“A terran. We’ve been tracking him for weeks.”

“Sorry,” he said, pointing out a window. She could see a large cargo ship speeding toward a jump point. “Just put ‘im on that transport.”

“But he just came in!” Carol protested.

The guard shrugged. “Transport was leaving. They told me to throw ‘im on.”

“Where’s it going?” she asked.  
  
“That’s classified.”

Carol looked at him with outrage. “In case you didn’t know, I’m a ranking member of Starforce. That man is critical to my mission.”  
  
“Oh yeah? What’s your name,” the guard asked.

Carol hesitated for a second. “Mar…Veer.”

“Well, _Mar-Veer_ , as a ranking member of Starforce you should know that only Accusers can know where their prisons are. If you have a problem, take it up with the Supreme Intelligence.”

The guard turned away from her and her fist began to glow.

“Carol! No!” Rocket said over her comms.

She growled in frustration and stormed off. She could hear Nebula still chatting with the Accuser, getting more bits and pieces of the planned invasion. “Nebula!” Carol hissed over the comms. “Nebula, you have to get him to tell you where the prison is. You have to!”

“Damn,” she heard Nebula say. “I left my favorite pair of handcuffs on that prisoner.”  
  
“I don’t think he was cuffed,” the Accuser replied, confusion obvious in his voice.  
  
“Wasn’t he?” Nebula replied. “Would you be doll and check for me?”

There was a moment of silence, and then the Accuser said, “Looks like he’s already left on a transport. Sorry.”

“Oh that is disappointing. You wouldn’t happen to know where he was going?”

“I… can’t tell you that,” the Accuser said uneasily.

“Who am I going to tell? I’ll make it worth your while,” she replied in a husky voice.

“Your favorite cuffs?”

“Uh huh. And maybe when I get them back I’ll use them on you.”

“Is anyone else _really uncomfortable_ hearing Nebula talk like this?” Quill asked over the comms.

“Wellll,” the Accuser said, “I think it’s probably Kratos. I should probably go without you, though. It’s top secret.”

He hadn’t even finished speaking before Carol had all possible routes to Kratos pulled up on her suit’s computer. One took only two jumps, but the middle point was apparently in an asteroid field. The transport wouldn’t take that one, but she could. Taking off at a run, she reached the dock entrance and blasted off into space.

“Carol! Wait, where are you going?” someone said over the comms, but they were already starting to cut out as she shot through the jump point.


	13. Chapter 13

Pretty much every part of his body ached. It wasn’t the worst he’d felt, but he’d certainly been better. Thor lay on the floor of his cage in the transport ship, staring at the ceiling and wondering what to do. He was certain he could break out, but probably not without revealing that he wasn’t so Terran after all. Then again, there was a chance that none of his friends knew where he was right now, so it might be his only option. Maybe he’d just sleep for a bit, though…

“Hey! Hey you! With the eyepatch!” someone called from across the hall. Thor cracked his eye and looked over to see a skinny girl with green skin looking at him. She had large eyes and a small tuft of hair on the top of her head. “Yeah, you!” she said when she saw him looking at her. “What did you do?”

“Nothing,” Thor grumbled and closed his eye again, not in the mood for conversation.

“That’s what they all say,” the girl replied. “Everyone’s always denying it. Not me. I defy the Kree and I own it.”

He sighed. “What did you do?”

“I stole some of their weapon chargers and destroyed them. It’s my fifth time. They always catch me, but it’s worth it.”

Thor opened his eye again, impressed. “You’ve escaped the Kree prisons four times already?”

The girl just shrugged. “I’m small. I can slip through places. It’s easy for me. For you… not so much.”  
  
Thor laughed. “Fair enough.”

“What’s your name?” she asked after a bit.

“Thor. What’s your’s?”

“Tic,” she replied. The name made him sit upright and look at her, pulling the eyepatch off his other eye. Carol had talked about Tic while they were on Torfa, and how she was disappointed that the girl wasn’t around. Well, now he knew why.

“You do look just like Carol described,” he remarked.

Her eyes went wide and she grabbed the bars in front of her with her three-fingered hands. “You know Captain Marvel?!” she shouted.

“Yeah, we’re friends,” he replied with a smile.

Tic looked him up and down, then smirked. “I guess she did always have a type.”

“What? No,” Thor said quickly, “it’s not like that.”

“Oh,” she said, looking somewhat disappointed. “Are you _sure_?”  
  
Thor gulped. “Yeah,” he replied, but in that moment he realized he wasn’t.

“Is that your real eye?” Tic asked.

“N–no,” he stammered, thrown for a loop with the quick change in topic. “I lost it, but a friend gave me this robotic one as a replacement. No choice in color, though.”

She shrugged. “I kinda like it that way. Why’d you have it covered?”

“As a kind of disguise. To keep a low profile.”  
  
“I think you need a better disguise,” she told him.

Thor didn’t really feel like explaining what had led to him being locked in here, so he just didn’t reply. Instead, he laid back down, his mind racing. Now he’d need to get Tic out of here as well when he escaped; sure, she’d done it on her own before, but—even beyond his own strong sense of duty—Carol would certainly murder him if he did. Unfortunately, a plan was not forthcoming, and he found his thoughts wandering to what Tic had said.

“What did you mean, ‘she always had a type’?” he asked, and almost immediately regretted it.

“Huh?” Tic replied. “Oh, Captain Marvel? One time I was helping her out and we saved a prince and his kingdom. He was buff and muscle-y—but not as much as you—and she clearly had the hots for him.”

Yup, he definitely regretted it. “W–what happened?” he asked as he sat up, unable to stop himself.

“He was being forced into a marriage with an evil woman. He had to marry to gain his inheritance, though,” she explained, apparently oblivious to his reaction to this story. “He asked Carol but she turned him down…”

Suddenly Thor’s chest felt tight and all he could hear was blood rushing in his ears. After a few moments he realized that Tic was still talking.

“… but she said she didn’t love him, and anyway she was too busy, even if it didn't mean anything and was just for politics. But I said I’d do it so it all worked out.”

“Wait, _you_ married the prince?” Thor asked in surprise, shaken out of his thoughts of Carol.

Tic beamed. “Yup! Still am. Though I haven’t seen him in ten years at least.”

“Aren’t you a little young?”  
  
“Nah, my kind age weirdly. I may look young but I’m an old woman, actually. I probably don’t have a lot of years left,” she explained.

“Huh.”

They sat in silence for a while and the pain of his injuries swelled again, pushing out any other thoughts. Some of the smaller wounds had already started closing up, but he could tell at least one of his ribs was cracked and there was a decent sized gash on his head that was still oozing blood slowly. He had started trying to come up with a plan of escape again when he felt the ship plow through a jump point.

“We’re here,” Tic announced as the ship slowed. She had clearly made this journey enough times to know.

Thor felt the prison ship come to a halt as it docked, and he knew his moment of opportunity would probably come soon. They would be transferred and the security would be lowest. Perhaps he and Tic could manage to get away without too much commotion. As he readied himself, he unmistakably felt the ship move again, leaving the dock it had just made. He looked at Tic, who was as confused as he was.

“This isn’t normal,” she said, looking around. “Why are we moving?”

He wondered if they found out who he really was, or if the Guardians had found out where they were going and now the Kree were taking them somewhere else. Nothing really made sense. They heard a few bangs and crashes above them, and then a blast took the door to the hold off it’s hinges and a fireball in the shape of a person came striding into the ship.

****

Carol had arrived at Kratos before the prison ship and had spent a few minutes wondering what exactly she was going to do. She could probably get in, get Thor, and get out without too much fuss, but there was the matter of all the other prisoners. She knew they were all victims of the Kree’s unjust wars, and her sense of duty took over. After a quick flight around the docks she could see they were lightly held; no one expected any trouble out here. She still had the black wig, and her suit was Kree colors. Of course, a Starforce member would never be out here, but it was what she had to work with.

A large console sat in the midst of all the docks, controlling information about which berth ships would take. Several Kree sat behind a desk, intent on their work. She watched as a guard came up and asked a question. The workers answered him without looking up. After a few moments she walked up to the desk confidently.

“I need to know the arrival berth for a prisoner transport coming in.”

The workers didn’t look at her. “Which one? There are three.”

Carol cursed internally. “Last pickup was at the T–627 spaceport?” she asked hopefully. Seconds ticked by as the workers tapped away at their keyboards. She willed them to hurry up.

“Station 18,” a worker told her eventually.

“Thanks,” she replied, then cursed internally again. Accusers would never thank a lowly dock worker. She took off quickly toward the station, but not before one of the workers looked up from his screen. As she got farther away she faintly heard him call in a report of an unexpected Starforce member with long black hair on the docks.

She arrived at the berth just as the prison ship was docking. The two guards at the station looked at her in surprise; she really didn’t have time for this. She walked up to them and punched them both out before they could make a sound. The ship came to a halt and the ramp began lowering, revealing two more guards inside who were surprised to see her and not their usual welcome party. She took off running at them and flung them bodily off the ship, where they crashed into the dock. Triggering the ramp to close again, she headed quickly toward the main control room. Like the docks, the ship would be lightly held; the Kree were over-confident in their ability to restrain prisoners.

In a matter of minutes Carol had rounded up the rest of the guards and the pilot and had knocked them out. Binding them them with their own manacles, she pushed them into a room off the main deck to deal with later. She tapped new coordinates into the ship’s computer: a spaceport in neutral territory outside of the Kree’s usual patrol. As the ship left the dock, she ran down toward the hold where she knew the prisoners would be kept.

When she got to the door of the hold it was sealed, and needed two voice authentications. This, at least, was where the Kree showed their paranoia. She growled in frustration, then powered a huge blast and shot the door off its hinges. The room was dark but the light from her body lit the space and threw long shadows of the cage bars across the room. She had just rescued them all, but she ran down an aisle looking for one person. She found him leaning against one wall of his cage, bruised and bloody. She meant to just break the lock but in her haste she tore the entire front off the enclosure.

“Carol?” Thor asked, confusion obvious in his voice.

She realized she was still wearing the black wig. Tearing it off her head, she knelt down in front of him and put a hand up to the gash on his head. “Thor! Oh god, Thor, are you ok?” Her hand was trembling but she couldn’t stop it. He took it with one of his and brought it down in between them.  
  
“I’m fine,” he replied, his confusion not totally gone. “What’s going on? Where are the others?”

“I stole the prison ship,” she managed, trying not to focus on the fact that he was still holding her hand in his.

“CAPTAIN MARVEL!” a familiar voice cried behind her, and she turned in surprise.

“Tic?! What are you doing here?”

Tic grinned at her from behind her bars. “I like messing with the Kree,” she said simply.

Carol pulled her hand from Thor’s and walked over to the other cage. “Who doesn’t,” she replied, breaking the lock. Tic bounded out and hugged Carol tightly.

“What have you been up to? Where have you been? Who are your new friends?” Tic asked quickly.

Carol laughed. “We’ll have time to catch up soon. I want to hear what landed you in a Kree prison ship. But I need to get him medical attention…”

“I’m _fine_ ,” Thor interrupted as he struggled to his feet. Carol rushed toward him but he waved her off. “Go. Let out the other prisoners. Do your catching up. I’m going to go wipe this blood off my face.”

Carol wanted to protest, but he had already turned and was limping off down the hall. Her chest tightened as she watched him walk away. Then Tic tugged at her hand, bringing her attention back to the girl. She followed as Carol walked around the hold, pulling up charges for each person, then letting them out of the cages. As she had expected, all were accused of war crimes. They thanked her, sometimes so profusely it made her uncomfortable, and she sent them up to the main deck. Tic told Carol about her exploits since they had last seen each other, and then asked Carol all about hers. Carol told her about the snap and Thanos, and about how she was traveling with the Guardians now to help defend Earth from the Kree. They released the last prisoner, and Carol turned to find Tic staring at her intently.

“He’s handsome,” Tic said.

Carol didn’t need to ask who she was talking about. “Yes,” she sighed.

“Does he know how you feel about him?”  
  
Carol looked away, but didn’t answer. She didn’t know what to say.

“I’ll take that as a no. Captain, even though I’m married I’ve never really been in love. But I know that life’s too short to not go after him. Take it from an old woman,” Tic said with a grin.

“Thanks, Tic,” Carol said softly.

“If I wasn’t married, you might have to fight for him…”

Carol laughed again, the serious mood broken. “You wouldn’t stand a chance,” she teased.

“You never know…” Tic replied, and they both laughed as they walked up to the main deck.


	14. Chapter 14

The last jump point was located just over the atmosphere of Kratos. They didn’t really have a plan, but when Carol had taken off without them they really didn’t know what to do but follow. Nebula had followed the Accuser to his ship then knocked him out and found the route to the prison planet, so here they were.

“There it is!” cried Mantis unnecessarily, pointing at the huge Kree ship that was obstructing much of their view of the planet.

“Forget where it is. Where is it going?” Rocket asked. Sure enough, the ship was powering away from the planet toward a jump point. He tapped a few buttons and the screen showed a scan of the ship with many bodies still inside, although unexpectedly distributed around the ship.

“Maybe the prisoners revolted?” Gamora suggested. “Thor could be behind it.”

“Why wouldn’t he send us a message?” Quill asked.

“The Kree would have intercepted it,” Nebula explained. “We don’t know that they’re in control of the ship. If it goes through a jump point we won’t have any idea where it’s going.”

Rocket pulled the Benatar sharply toward the departing ship. They sped after it, staying out of view. As they neared the hull, Rocket deployed the grappling system and Gamora felt a clunk as it latched onto the prison ship.

“It seems as if we do not have a plan,” Drax observed as the airlock sealed off a stretch of the other ship’s hull and Quill pulled out a tool to cut a hole in the hull.

“We have a plan,” Quill replied. He stopped as he realized everyone was looking at him expectantly. “C’mon, man, back me up,” he said to Rocket.

“If we want our numbskull god-friend back we’re gonna have to go in there,” Rocket said, as if it was obvious. “Nebula said Kree prison ships were lightly held.”

“I don’t think I said that,” Nebula replied flatly.

Rocket shrugged. “Maybe it was Danvers. I’m pretty sure someone said it.”

“Where _is_ Carol?” Mantis asked, and they realized Carol had left before them but they hadn’t seen any sign of her.

“I am Groot.”  
  
“She’s not dead. She can take care of herself,” Quill said. “We’ll find her later.”

Attached to the prison ship, they were quickly approaching the jump point. Everyone braced themselves as they felt the big ship pull them through. On the other side, each of the Guardians began loading up with weapons and gear in preparation for the assault. Gamora was feeling uncertain about the operation, which was unusual for her. She walked up to Quill as she sheathed her knives.

“None of this makes sense,” she said to him quietly. “Even if Thor did get out, why would he take the whole ship? Why would the Kree let the ship leave?”

Quill looked at her and shrugged. “Maybe they don’t know it’s missing.”

“What if they do, and it’s a trap?”

“Where is this coming from? You’re usually all ‘slice bad guys first, ask questions later’,” he said, giving her a look.

Gamora shook her head. She didn’t know herself where it was coming from. She had real concern for the crew, and it surprised her. But it wasn't just that. Of course it had been hard to watch Thor get beaten, but the thought that they intended it for Peter made her blood boil. That was the thing that was the most shocking. She looked at him again, but he had turned back to loading his gun.

Fortunately she was not left to her thoughts much longer. Rocket had finished cutting a hole in the ship’s hull. “All right people,” he said, standing in the newly-formed passage. “If you see a Kree, shoot first and ask questions later.”

They filed in one by one. They had drilled into the holding area, and true to the scans it was empty. Locks broken, cages hanging open. One cage in particular had been torn apart. They looked at each other silently, then moved through the door—also blown open—and toward main deck. They heard voices at the end of the passage, and they regrouped for a moment. Quill signaled that he was going to take a peek around the corner, and Gamora had to keep herself from protesting.

He stepped out slightly, gun in front of him, and a hand in a Kree fingerless glove grabbed it. The Guardians all jumped, cocking weapons.

“There are innocent prisoners of war on this ship, mind where you point that thing,” Carol said with a smirk as she stepped around the corner.

“Jesus, Danvers, you coulda told us you were here,” Quill said in a rush of air.

She laughed. “It was more fun watching you guys. Nice move with the ship by the way.”

“Where’s Thor?” Rocket asked, slinging his huge gun over his shoulder.

Carol gestured behind her with her head. “C’mon, I’ll show you around.”

****

They were powering off toward another jump point to the spaceport she had planned on, the Benetar still attached to the prison ship. She’d put Tic in charge of the prisoners, Drax was keeping an eye on the Kree guards, and Rocket was looting the ship for Kree tech. Thor had gone back to their room earlier, and though she didn’t want to disturb him she hoped she could grab a nap before the next jump.

When she entered the room he was peeling his shirt off. He was facing away from her so she almost turned around and walked out, but something made her stop. Muscles rippled under his skin as he threw the shirt to the side. Most of the previously visible cuts and bruises had already healed, and a particularly large bruise across the right side of his ribcage was already fading.

“That looks like it hurt,” she said, causing him to turn.

He shrugged and gave a half smile. “I’ve had worse.”

“Nebula feels bad about the whole prison thing.”

“It wasn’t that bad, really. We got the information we needed. And getting to see you single-handedly steal a Kree prison ship was worth it,” he said with a smirk. “Is that the kind of stuff you did before you started traveling with us?”

Carol flushed and looked away. “Something like that,” she shrugged. She caught sight of a ragged wound on his side. The edges were already healing, but she reached out to it in concern all the same.

“You should probably bind this…” she began, but was interrupted when he grabbed her hand. His expression was unreadable. They were already so close together and she felt herself drawn even nearer to him. Inevitably, their bodies pressed closer together and her face tilted up toward his.

Then he was pushing her away. “I can’t,” he said. “I can’t do this again. Whatever you’re about to do—kiss me then run away for Odin knows how long again—I can’t do it.” He was looking down at the ground, unable to meet her gaze.

“No… I can’t,” she said quietly, causing him to look up at her in surprise. “I can’t… lose you again.” God it was hard to admit that, but now that she had, she felt lighter.

“What?” he said breathlessly.

“Thor, I...” she hesitated. _I love you?_ She was definitely not prepared for declarations like that just yet. _I care about you?_ No, that seemed too generic. There were a lot of other people she cared about and she had no desire to have their lips firmly pressed against hers. _I like you?_ Ugh, what was she 12 years old?

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said eventually, dodging the declaration altogether. “I want to be with you.”

He stared at her for a moment as if he didn’t believe what had just happened. She waited for him to say something, but instead he slid a hand behind her head and pulled her closer until their lips met. As hesitant as their first kiss had been, weeks ago, this one was not. Thor kissed her desperately, as if he wasn’t sure she had meant what she said but was going to make the most of it regardless. His hand slipped around her waist and pulled her body against his. She returned the kiss fiercely, pushing herself into him and relishing the feeling of being wrapped in his arms. She no longer cared whether or not this was a good idea or if it meant the end of her solitary lifestyle forever. In this moment she was reveling in the feel of his lips on hers and the pressure of his body. Her fingers snaked through his hair as she held him tightly, not willing to let go.

The small room was hot, and she became acutely aware of the fact that he was bare-chested and she was wearing entirely too many clothes. Apparently he noticed this as well, because his hand at her waist slipped underneath her tank top and began pushing the hem upwards. The feeling of his fingers on her skin sent electricity tingling down to her toes. As if moving on their own, her hands pulled at the waistband of his pants. One part of her said this was going too fast and the other said it wasn’t going fast enough.

There was a knock at the door, and they both froze. Carol silently willed whoever was out there to go away.

“Carol?” Gamora called. “I know you’re in there. It’s important.”

Carol swore under her breath. Her disappointment was palpable as she extracted herself from Thor’s arms and pulled the hem of her tank top down to its proper position. The fact that he was giving her sad puppy dog eyes wasn’t helping.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” she whispered as she pushed him towards his bed. Clearly unsatisfied, he pulled her into another kiss as she tried to turn away. She lingered for a moment, savoring the taste of his mouth and the feel of his lips. The thought of ignoring Gamora and staying here with him was so seductive, but duty called. Running a hand through her hair, she slipped through the door and closed it behind her.

“What’s up?” she asked, ignoring Gamora's questioning look.

“We’ve made contact with the spaceport but we’ll have to shuttle people down in groups because they don’t have the space for the prison ship to dock. They’re understandably a little uncomfortable with having the ship in their space at all, so they need some reassurances. Also Fury wants to chat about the next steps.”

Carol couldn’t help but be annoyed. “Does this have to happen now?”

“Why, are you busy?” Gamora asked, eyebrow cocked.

“No— it’s just— look, I could use some rest too.”

“Not yet,” Gamora said with a smirk. “The real reason I’m here is Tic says she needs you on the prison ship.”

Sighing, Carol glanced back at the closed door behind her. “Tell her I’ll be there in a second, ok?”

****

Thor could hear their voices in the hallway, and then after a bit the sound of retreating footsteps. For a split second he thought maybe Carol actually had left again, but a moment later the door opened and she slipped back in. A huge grin lit up his face, and she couldn’t help but smile back. Her smile was short lived, though, and was replaced by an expression of chagrin.

“I have to go take care of things,” she said, and he felt his heart sink.

“Now?”

She looked away. “I know I said I wasn’t going anywhere, and I’m not. I’ll still be nearby. It shouldn’t take me that long. You need rest anyway.”

“I don’t need rest. I need you,” he said. As he spoke the words he felt a rush as bottled up emotions bubbled to the surface. Ever since she had returned he’d been fighting them, denying that they were within him. He walked over to her and put his hands on her arms.

Her expression was pained. “I’m sorry. For all of it. But I do need to help these people… it’s who I am.”

He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I know. It’s what I love about you.”

She looked up at him quickly and his heart skipped a beat. He had used the L-word, without intending to or meaning to. This was all so new and raw, and he didn’t want to scare her away… But her lips curved into a soft smile, and then he couldn’t help but kiss them.

His kiss before had been demanding, exacting assurances from her that this was real and not a dream, that she meant what she had said. This kiss had no such demands. It was slow and tender as he reveled in the feel of her lips and the way her tongue darted into his mouth. The languorousness of his lips was belied by his grip on her; he had wrapped her in his arms tightly and never wanted to let go again.

But it was not to be. She pulled away, a mix of delight and disappointment on her face. “Just a few hours. I’ll be back. Try to get some sleep?”  
  
Thor grinned. “With you on my mind? Never.”

She batted him playfully on the arm, then turned to leave. He caught her again at the door, kissing the back of her neck, trying to convince with kisses the way he could not do with words. It didn’t work, of course—she was too strong for that.

When she finally had left and shut the door behind her he lay in his bed, staring at the bottom of the bunk above him. He didn't know how he could possibly rest after what had just happened, but as he lie there, replaying it in his mind, he felt his eyelids get heavy and he drifted off to sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

_It shouldn’t take me long_ , she had said. _I’ll be right back._ Carol rubbed the exhaustion from her face as she stared into the vastness of space before her. The last of the liberated prisoners were unloading from the shuttle and stumbling off to various places. She had arranged for those who needed it to receive medical attention, and so they were heading toward the makeshift medical rooms. Some were making calls to family or friends to come pick them up; Others were already catching transports to other systems or signing up for odd jobs on the port.

In the time since she had left Thor’s arms she had organized the former prisoners by their needs—no easy feat given the sheer number of them—and negotiated the terms of their arrival on the spaceport. Rocket had helped her sell off various parts he didn’t want from the prison transport, and with the proceeds she had bought a smaller ship with a holding cell. This she had transferred the Kree guards into; it would be used to transport them to the S.W.O.R.D. station. Afterward the ship would be Tic’s, in her capacity working with S.W.O.R.D. The girl had shown an interest in working with Fury and the Skrulls in the fight against the Kree.

Now it was hours later, and she looked up at the empty prison ship above them. The bright orange of the Benatar could just barely be seen still attached to the hull, but they’d be releasing as soon as she flew back up there and gave them the go-ahead. Then there was the issue of what to do with the prison ship. No one wanted to take it, an in any case it was now just an empty hull. Rocket had quite thoroughly stripped it. It could be sold for scrap, but she worried any piece of it might be traced back to this port or the prisoners. Better to destroy it completely.

She nodded to the dock agent as the final person exited the shuttle, then yawned and looked around. Fortunately Quill was already approaching her, a bundle tucked under his arm.

“I can’t believe the prices on this port,” he said to her. “Why is everything so cheap?”  
  
Carol shrugged. “Near the edge of the Kree empire. Not a lot of visitors.” She was so tired she had lost the ability to speak in complete sentences.

“Well we got a ton of shit. We’re gonna be set for a while. You ready?” he replied.

She nodded, and he triggered his helmet. The two of them blasted toward the prison ship and the Benatar. Quill headed into his ship and after a few moments the airlock disengaged and the grapples holding it to the Kree ship released. Carol felt a pull as the air in the big ship rushed out into space, taking with it bits and pieces of detritus. Taking a deep breath to try to wake herself up a bit, she left the ship. She leaned into it, picking up speed slowly, then shot off toward the star at the middle of this system. The ship shielded her from most of the heat of the star, but eventually she got close enough that it became difficult to hold onto it.

She paused for a second, then with all of her considerable strength she hurled the ship bodily into the star. Within a few minutes it had been enveloped within the burning miasma, and not a trace of it remained. Satisfied, she flew back to where the Benatar and Tic’s ship floated next to each other. As she passed through the Benatar’s airlock, the ship was quiet. It was late in their day-cycle, and most everyone was asleep. She could see the Quill’s bundle laying on the table, apparently discarded on his way back to bed. Nebula sat at the front of the ship, though, checking on the status of the former prisoners at the port.

“You don’t sleep much, do you?” Carol asked, looking over her shoulder.

“No,” Nebula replied simply. “Is it done?”  
  
Carol nodded even though Nebula wasn’t looking at her. “Yeah. It’s done. We’ll head to the station in the morning,” she finished with a yawn.

Nebula glanced up at her then and gave a small smirk. “Get some rest. You look like hell.”

With a short laugh, Carol nodded and turned away. Unsurprisingly, the room was dark when she entered it. She sent a soft glow out from her hands, and smiled as she saw Thor conked out in his bunk. She pushed her pants off her hips and shrugged her jacket off, leaving them where they fell on the ground. Then she pulled off her tank top, struggled out of her bra, and pulled the tank back on. Before today she would have, and had before, slept in her suit pants and the bra, not wanting to try to change into her sleep gear while he was in the room. Now just the tank top and her panties seemed sufficient. The ladder mocked her exhaustion as she grabbed the rungs and pulled herself toward the top bed.

When she was about half way up a pair of strong hands grabbed her around the waist. She let out an uncharacteristic squeak in surprise as Thor pulled her down on top of him. He grinned broadly up at her, his face lit by the glow still emanating from her hands.

“I thought you were asleep,” she said, straddling him in the small space.

He gave a small shrug. “I was waiting for you.”

Without waiting for a response he pulled her down toward him and into a kiss. His hands began roaming over her body, sliding down her bare thigh and up her along her torso. One cupped her breast through the thin fabric of her tank top, seeking her hardening nipple. She could feel desire surge through her body, battling the utter exhaustion. The exhaustion won. Reluctantly, she pulled back from him and removed his hand from her chest. The disappointment written on his face made her fight a pang of guilt.

“I’m sorry, Thor, but I am _exhausted._ ”

The disappointment didn’t leave his expression, but it was joined by understanding. “It’s ok,” he replied, pulling her down to his chest and wrapping his arms around her. “I understand. But I’m not letting go of you.”

He scooted over to the edge of the narrow bed, opening a space between his body and the back wall. She slid down into it, still lying half on him as she used his shoulder for a pillow. She let the glow from her hands fade and darkness settled over the room. Just before she passed out she felt him smooth down her hair and kiss her on the top of the head.

****

He was still asleep when she woke up in the morning, snoring lightly as she lay tucked up underneath his arm. She stayed where she was, enjoying the feeling of him and marveling at how perfectly she fit in his arms. Her mind began wandering as she watched his regular breathing. If it weren’t for the fact that he still held her tightly she might have thought yesterday was all a dream. Just being next to him felt so right, so unlike anything she had felt before. It put all her previous relationships in stark perspective.

His eyes fluttered, and he looked at her. Concern creased his brow. “What’s wrong?”  
  
Carol realized she had been frowning. She shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Are you sure? Is it something I did?” he asked, not giving up.

She gave him a small smile. “No,” she replied, stretching up to kiss him lightly. “Not you at all. My mind was wandering and I started thinking about… bad relationships.” She felt his arms tighten around her as she laid her head on his shoulder again and stared off across the room. “All of them just… terrible. Men who couldn’t handle my power, and tried to drag me down. Every time, I thought it would be different. Somehow it never was.”  
  
He was still holding her tightly, and she felt him kiss the top of her head. “ _This_ is different,” he promised.

“I know,” she said. “I can tell. This feels totally new.”

She pushed herself slightly more on top of him and pulled his head down toward hers. The feel of his lips on hers sent tingles down to her toes. One of his hands slid down to her butt and grabbed her to pull her up even more. Her free hand slid along his torso, feeling his muscles below the smooth skin. The give and take of lips and tongues and teeth was intoxicating, and once again reminded her of how other men always just tried to dominate her in kisses. She pushed them from her mind as his hand slid up underneath her tank top and found her breast, picking up where he left off last night. His other hand still cupped her butt, and she felt his fingers slide ever-so-slowly between her legs. At the same time he pulled her tightly against him and his growing erection pressed into her thigh.

After a while she became aware that it seemed like he was holding back. Maybe he thought it was too fast. Maybe he didn’t want to push her. All she knew is that she wanted him more than she had wanted anyone ever before. She slid her hand down underneath the waistband of his loose pants and he groaned into the kiss as she found her mark. She pulled away and grinned at him, and his eyes sparkled. He pulled her back down but this time peppered kisses along her neck and shoulder. Now she had escalated things, and he was ready. The fingers between her legs that had previously been resting on her inner thigh now pressed against the crotch of her panties, and it was her turn to groan as she ground down onto his hand. He didn’t wait long until he had slipped his fingers underneath the fabric.

They had started slowly, but now the pace increased rapidly. His hands and hers teased each other’s sensitive parts, both of them gasping in pleasure. Something unspoken passed between them as both withdrew their hands and pulled at the minimal clothing they were wearing, desperate for release. As she straddled him, she bit her lip to keep from yelling; she had no doubt the walls were thin in the ship. They moved together, first slowly, then more quickly. His hands gripped her hips tightly, certain to leave red marks when they were removed. She grabbed the edge of the bunk, and as the pressure built she could feel the metal bend in her grip.

“Oh my god, Thor,” she panted in a whisper. “Ungggghhh!”

He pulled her down into a kiss, trying to smother her exclamations as well as his own. She bit at his lips as he pushed hard into hers. The pressure continued to build until she hit the climax. Her back arched as her fingers dug into his shoulder and she bit her lip so hard she thought she might have drawn blood. As she continued to move she felt him clench below her as he pressed her hips ferociously into his. He moaned, loud.

Carol’s eyes widened and she leaned forward, clasping a hand over his mouth. He briefly looked concerned but then pleasure overtook him. His eyes closed and he bucked beneath her. They rocked for a few moments more, riding the release. She leaned forward and lay down onto his chest, her head nestled next to his. His fingers snaked through her hair and twisted the short strands idly. She smiled into his neck and breathed deeply, drinking in his ozone-tinged scent.

After a while, she became aware of the sound of people moving around in the ship outside the room. They were supposed to be departing in the morning, and she realized she had no idea what time it was. She sat up on top of him and fumbled on the table next to them until she found the small clock.

“Shit,” she breathed, dropping the clock. It was late.

Before she could get up, though, he pulled her back down onto him. He kissed her tenderly, and she kissed him back for a few moments before she smiled into it and pulled away.

“We need to get up,” she told him.

“Don’t say that. Stay with me.”

“I said _we_. You’re healed. No more resting for you,” she said with a smirk.

“I dunno, I feel tired…” he replied with a devilish grin, “maybe I need more time in bed. With you.”

“That’s too bad. If you were to help me out today, I’d have to think of some way…” She leaned down and put her face near his ear, and whispered, “to thank you.”

He gulped and flushed red, then pushed himself up slightly. “Yeah, um, we should get up.”

She laughed at him and climbed off. As she walked across the room toward her clothes she had the feeling of being watched. She turned slightly and saw him staring at her naked form with unmasked desire. Then, reluctantly, he swung his feet over the side of the bed.

“Carol? Are you awake?” Nebula called from the other side of the door.

“Y–yeah!” Carol called back. “I’m up!”

“Fury’s on the line. He wants to talk to you.”

“Ok, tell him I’ll be there in a minute!” She stumbled as she tried to rapidly put on her clothes. Her eyes wandered to Thor’s naked body as he stood and went looking for his pants.

“I’m gonna shower,” he told her as he pulled them on.

She looked at a series of fresh, finger-tip shaped bruises on his shoulder. She had inflicted them that morning. “You might want to put on a shirt,” she suggested. “Just in case someone sees you.”

Thor followed her gaze to the bruises and shrugged. “As far as they know they’re still left over from the Accusers. Or were you just trying to keep this view to yourself?” he asked with a smirk.

Carol flushed. It was true, but she didn’t want to be that woman. “No,” she replied defensively. But he pulled on a shirt anyway as she slipped her jacket on. “So how do you want to tell them?” she asked as she bent down to tie her boots.

“You mean besides saying we need a bigger bed?”

She stood up and stretched slightly. It was true, that had not been the most comfortable sleeping arrangement. She shook her head. “We’ll figure it out later.”

Walking over to him, she pushed herself up on her tip toes and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. The moment was broken when the communicator on her suit beeped. Fury was apparently impatient. She pulled away from him with a smile.

“Don’t be weird,” she told him as she headed to the door.

“Who me?” he replied, faking a look of injury. He pointed at her. “You should follow your own advice.”

She smirked in reply, then left the room and headed toward the projection screen where Fury waited.

“When’s the last time you slept?” he asked as she sat down in front of him.

“Last night!” she protested. “Yesterday was busy.”  
  
He snorted. “Now that’s an understatement. When are you getting here?”

She tapped at another screen briefly, pulling up the projected flight plans. “Mmmm… looks like four hours. Our other ship doesn’t have as strong of a jump drive.”

“Speaking of which, tell me about this new person?”  
  
Carol looked back at him. “Tic? For one, don’t judge on appearances. She may look young but she’s been through a lot. She’s strong. This was her fifth time destroying Kree weapons.”  
  
“But she gets caught,” Fury replied, arms crossed in front of him.

“I never said she couldn’t use some training. But she’ll be a fierce agent.”

“I trust you. What about these guards? You think they’ll be of use?”  
  
She shrugged. “They probably can’t tell us much more than we already know. But they know a lot about the Kree prison system, which is valuable intelligence.”

“Do you think they’ll tell us?” he asked.

“Not voluntarily. When we bring them in, make sure they don’t see any Skrulls in natural form. If they don’t suspect anything, we may be able to trick them.”

Fury nodded. “Works for me. See you in a few hours.”

The screen blinked off and she sat back in the chair. For the moment, the Guardians were busy about the ship, but she knew she’d have to deal with them soon enough. Maybe she could put it off a bit longer. She shot a message off to Tic, who responded quickly. A quick flight over to the other ship would help to clear her head. She stopped briefly where the others were gathered to let them know where she was going, then left through the air lock.

Tic was working on something when she came into the other ship, but grinned when she looked up and saw Carol approaching. “How was last night?” she asked.

Carol stopped. “What?”

“You told him, right?”

“How did you know?!” Carol demanded.

Tic shrugged and turned back to what she had been working on. “You’re glowing. And not,” she said quickly, before Carol could jump in, “the way you usually glow. You look really happy.”

Carol shook her head and laughed softly, staring at the ground. “Yeah, I told him.”

“And it went well.”  
  
“You could say that,” Carol replied, flushing at the memory of their morning. “We haven’t told anyone else.”

“I can keep secrets,” Tic said, tapping away at her screen.

“It’s not really a secret,” Carol protested. “We just… haven’t figured out how to tell everyone.”

“You could just tell them. I don't think it will be a surprise.”

Carol didn’t know if that made things better or worse. “How are our prisoners?” she asked, changing the topic.

“They’re fine. Not very interesting. They don't want to talk to me,” she explained in response to Carol’s quizzical look.

Carol laughed. “I’m not surprised. Are you ready for our trip? Fury is excited to meet you.”

“Really?” Tic said, looking at her skeptically. “He said that?”

“Well, no,” Carol admitted. “But I can tell. Deep down, he’s excited. I think you’ll like him, and Talos.”

Tic smiled. “If you like them, I’m sure I will.”

A notification popped up on the monitor, and Tic tapped it. The overhead screen lit up and Rocket’s face, larger than life, looked out a them.

“Are you guys ready, or what?” he asked.

“We’re ready!” Tic piped, dialing in the route on the ship’s computer.

“Go ahead and go through the first jump,” Carol told him. “I’m gonna keep Tic company for now.”

“See? She’s just hanging out with her friend,” Quill said from off camera.

Thor’s head popped into the frame, a semi-worried grin on his face. “Hi. Um. I didn’t know where you went.”

Carol glanced for a second at Rocket, who was watching the interaction. “Well now you know. I’ll see you later,” she said to him, and he nodded. Rocket pushed Thor out of the frame before he could say anything.

“I don’t know what you did to him,” Rocket mumbled, shaking his head.  
  
Carol drew a quick breath, but Tic cut in before she could say anything. “All right then, jumps are programmed, talk to you later,” the girl said quickly, then shut down the connection. She turned to Carol. “See? They can tell. You should tell them before it gets weird. Weird _er_.”  
  
“I told him not to be weird,” Carol said under her breath, staring at the ceiling.

****

Thor knew there was a bounce in his step as he walked into the main area of the ship, but he couldn’t suppress it. At times it felt like the artificial gravity could barely keep him on the floor. He was, at least, trying to keep the grinning like an idiot to a minimum. Everyone was busy with preparations when he arrived, but there was someone noticeably missing.

“Where’s Carol?” he asked, trying to keep the note of worry out of his voice.

Rocket barely glanced at him. “She went over to the other ship.”

“Oh,” Thor said. “Nothing was wrong, was it? I mean, she didn’t say anything was wrong?” He was failing miserably at keeping a cool demeanor.

This time Rocket gave him a look of confusion. “I think she just went to check on the kid. Somethin’ wrong with _you_?”

“She’s not really a kid, you know,” Thor replied, ignoring the question.

“Were you injured this morning?” Drax suddenly asked beside him, causing Thor to jump.

“W–what?” he stammered.

“Earlier. You made a loud groan. Or perhaps it was nightmares?”

Thor could feel heat rising in his face, unbidden. He swallowed hard. “Yeah. Nightmares.”

“Hope you didn’t keep Danvers up, she still looked exhausted this morning,” Quill said, walking up to them.

“W–why would I have kept her up?” Thor asked, an awkward, forced grin on his face. “Did she say something?”

“With the nightmares,” Quill explained.

“Right, yes. I mean, no. She was already awake. She wakes up early,” Thor said, desperate to get away from this conversation. “Are we departing soon?”

“Soon as Danvers gets her butt back over here,” Rocket said. He turned to look at the rest of the Guardians. “Did she say if she was staying there?”

They shrugged in answer, so Rocket pulled up a communication screen to call over to the other ship. Once they had gotten the go-ahead, everyone grabbed their seats. As they sped toward the jump, Thor’s thoughts were focused on Carol. He knew he didn’t need to worry about her absence this morning, but he couldn’t help it. Her words about her previous relationships rang in his head. She said she could tell he was different, but he still felt some need to prove it to her. He also felt a strong desire to go find all of those other men and pound them into the ground, but he knew Carol wouldn’t want him to waste his energy on them. She was certainly more than capable of doing her own pounding if she thought it was worth it.

He was sitting toward the back so he was able to look around at the Guardians. He wondered how they would react to this new development. Most of them would probably be indifferent except for the fact that Carol’s presence with them was supposed to be temporary. Would they want her as a permanent member of the team? Would she want to be? For that matter, is this where he saw himself long term? Working with them had been fun, but maybe this was an opportunity for him and Carol to strike out on their own. The he realized he was getting ahead of himself. Hel, all of this just happened yesterday.

By the time they came through the other side of the jump his meditation on the topic had served to clear his mind and calm his nervous energy. They’d been working together for weeks now. Nothing needed to change. Well, maybe the bedrooms needed to change. Later, after they’d taken care of the tasks for the day, he’d talk to Carol and they’d figure out how to broach the subject. Everything would work out just fine.


	16. Chapter 16

Thor had never spent that much time with Nick Fury; the former S.H.I.E.L.D. director never seemed to fully trust the Asgardian. The rest of the Avengers were all human, enhanced or otherwise, and it made a difference. Thor had seen him from across a field at Tony’s funeral, but they hadn’t spoken in many years. Now he was watching him from across a large open space in the station while the Guardians looked all around the impressive construction. Fury had always struck him as a reserved and no-nonsense man, so seeing him laughing and joking with Carol was a surprise. This was a side of Fury he’d never seen before.

Carol was already on the station when they had arrived; she had departed Tic’s ship before the last jump and sped ahead, ostensibly to “prepare” the station for their arrival. The station was huge and populated with a species of alien that they hadn’t encountered before. Carol had told them the Skrulls were shapeshifters, but all of the ones they met looked just like humans. A few of the Skrull guards told them they were hiding their identities from the Kree prisoners, then disappeared into the hull of Tic’s ship. Once they had made their way into other parts of the station they saw the Skrulls in their true form, pointy ears and all. One had guided them to where Fury and Carol now stood. They obviously had a close friendship, and it intimidated him. Fury never seemed to like Thor that much; how much would his opinion matter to Carol?

Carol glanced at him, then said something to Fury that caused him to laugh hysterically. Thor felt stomach drop. What had she said that caused such a reaction? To be fair, maybe she had been looking at the other Guardians, but it felt like she had looked right at him. No one else in the cluster around him seemed to notice. Then Fury and Carol started walking toward them, and Thor did his best to act naturally.

“Thor,” Fury said by way of greeting.

“Fury,” Thor replied with a nod.

“You seem to have lost the equivalent of a small Asgardian since I last saw you. Not trying to impress anyone, are you?”

Thor felt his face get hot. “Uh… er…”

The Guardians behind him finally noticed that they had company and rescued him from the question.

“ _You’re_ Nick Fury?” Rocket exclaimed. He turned back to the others. “I saw this guy at the funeral and thought he was some kinda vampire hunter.”

“The Guardians of the Galaxy,” Fury said, ignoring Rocket. “I’ve heard a lot about you. Thanks for helping out with this operation.”

“Usually for this kinda thing we get some kind of compensation…” Quill began.

Gamora shot him a look. “But this one’s on us. We have no love for the Kree,” she finished for him.

“Yeah, of course. Of course,” he put in awkwardly as Fury looked at them with a bemused expression.

“C’mon guys, I’ll show you around,” Carol said, grinning.

The station was huge, and their tour contained only a small part of it. Several times Nebula had to prevent Rocket from making off with parts, but for the most part the Guardians were behaving. Carol talked about the station, about the Skrulls, and about S.W.O.R.D. Thor barely paid attention to her words, being too wrapped up in just watching her.

“How many Skrulls live on the station?” she asked him.

“Huh? What?”

The others were dispersing, and Thor and Carol stood in an out of the way corridor. Her mouth was twisted in a smirk as she looked at him.

“You weren’t paying attention,” she accused.

“I was!” he protested. “To you. Maybe not so much to what you were saying. Your beauty is just _so_ distracting.”

She laughed and he walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist to pull her toward him.

“Thor…” she warned as he bent down to kiss her neck.

He was not deterred. “No one’s around.”

It was true, the corridor was empty. Still, she pushed him away half-heartedly. He looked down at her, the smirk still playing on her lips. “What am I gonna do with you?” she asked.

“Kiss me.”

To his surprise, she obliged. “Just one,” she said, then tipped her head back slightly as he bowed his head. Their lips met, and Thor felt butterflies in his stomach all over again. He held her tightly and she clung to him, belying her earlier resistance.

“Captain…” a voice said, and before they could process what was happening a young Skrull came around a corner. Thor and Carol broke apart rapidly, but not fast enough. “Er, sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt…”

Apparently Carol’s play was to pretend that he hadn’t actually seen anything. She ignored his last statement. “Yes? Did you need me?”

“General Talos is on the line. He’d like to talk to you about the next stages of the operation,” the aide told her, doing his best to ignore Thor.

Thor, for his part, was doing his best to fade into the background; not an easy thing to do for a guy his size.

“Thank you, please let him know I’ll be right there,” Carol replied. The aide turned to flee, but Carol wasn’t finished. Thor could hear the warning tone in her voice when she said, “And I trust you will keep whatever you think you saw here to yourself?”

He stopped and looked at her, then gulped. “But nothing happened here, Captain.”

“Correct,” Carol said, and the aide fled before she could say anything else.

“You’re gonna give that boy nightmares,” Thor told her as she turned back around.

The deadly serious expression that she had inflicted on the poor aide had been replaced by one of bemusement. “He’ll get over it. I have to go chat with Talos, but later we need to discuss telling people about us.”

“I had the same thought.”

“Good,” she said, then stretched up on her tip-toes to steal a quick kiss. When she pulled back, a radiant smile lit up her face. “Try not to get into too much trouble!” she called as she walked off around the corner.

****

The Benatar was quiet except for the slow, regular sound of a blade being dragged across leather. Gamora sat, nearly alone, in the common area of the ship, carefully sharpening one of her knives. Most of the others were still on the station, learning about the operation or talking with Skrulls. Drax lay in his chair, sound asleep, and she knew Groot was in his room playing video games. As she worked, Mantis boarded the ship and looked around.  
  
“Hi Gamora!”

Gamora couldn’t help but smile at the other woman’s bubbly enthusiasm for everything. “Hi Mantis. I thought you were talking to the Skrulls?”  
  
“I was. They’re interesting. But they had to go do some work. Have you seen Thor?”  
  
“Not since we left him with Carol in the station. Why?”

“No reason,” Mantis said, then looked like she was considering something for a moment. “Has Carol talked to you about him?”

Gamora stopped and looked at her. “No. Why would she talk to me?”  
  
“You both joined us at the same time. She seemed most comfortable with you.”

Returning to her sharpening, Gamora shook her head. She pressed the blade hard into the strop. “Well, she hasn’t. But it’s clear you also noticed that something new happened between them.”

“You’re upset about this,” Mantis said. It wasn’t a question.

Gamora looked up at him sharply. _Upset?_ She wanted to protest, say that she wasn’t, but when she was honest with herself she realized she _was_ annoyed at Carol. “It’s not what you think,” she said with a sigh. Mantis was looking at her expectantly. “Remember the siren we rescued? And the old woman?”

“Oh yes. That was a fun mission.”

“Carol wanted to go check out the rest of the palace before we left. Said she thought something weird was going on there. Well, all we found was the old woman.” She paused.

“And?” Mantis prompted.

Gamora hesitated. Why was she telling her this? It seemed like a bad idea, and at the same time she wanted to get it off her chest. “Promise you won’t tell anyone else?”  
  
“Of course,” Mantis replied. “I’m very good at secrets.”

Gamora didn’t really know if that was true, but whatever. “She said that ‘true love’ would find us, but only if we were looking. Carol scoffed at the whole thing, but now…” She trailed off, uncertain of what to say. She was annoyed that Carol had fallen in love after dismissing the whole thing? That Carol had fallen in love, but not her? No, that _couldn’t_ be it.

“You’re afraid of what that means for you?” Mantis said.

Gamora gaped at her, unable to speak. She was right, but admitting it out loud was too much.

“Don’t be,” she said eventually. “Who cares about what crazy old women said. Anyway, you don’t have to look for true love.”  
  
“I don’t?” Gamora managed.

Mantis grinned at her. “No, silly. It’s more like, true love is patiently waiting for you.”  
  
“If you’re talking about Peter…”

“I’m talking about _love_.” Mantis put a hand on Gamora’s arm. “You worry about Peter, about whether or not you’ll ever return his love, and about what that means for your place with us. Don’t. It will come, but in it’s own time. Likely when you least expect it. Peter will never rush you. Don’t rush yourself.”

Gamora stared at Mantis for a moment, overwhelmed by emotions. “How do you know so much about love?” she eventually asked.

Mantis shrugged. “I’ve never been in love myself, but at the same time I know it well. My kind are born with a deep understanding of all emotions. We could not be empaths if not.”

“Well, thank you.” Gamora returned to her sharpening, and they sat in silence for a while. “How long do you think it will take them to tell us?” she asked Mantis eventually.

The empath chuckled. “It won’t be long. I would imagine they will want to trade bedrooms soon.”

“True,” Gamora laughed. “Do you think they’ll stay with us?”  
  
“That I don’t know. Only time will tell. They are fun, though. I’ll be sad to see them go.”


	17. Chapter 17

"Is it possible to use one of these to make a call to Midgard? Er… C–53?”

The Skrull leaving the communications room stopped and her eyes widened as if she was surprised to have been addressed. She gave a small nod. “Of course. First time on the station?”  
  
“How could you tell?” Thor replied with a smile.

“C’mon, I’ll show you how they work,” she said, gesturing to the consoles inside the room.

He stuck out a hand. “I’m Thor, by the way.”

“I know” she replied, surprising him. She took his hand tentatively. “Lyja.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lyja,” he replied, giving her hand a squeeze. He could have sworn she was blushing, but it was hard to be sure. “Have you lived on the station long?”

“A few months,” she answered as she took a place at a console. She gestured at a series of buttons in front of her. “Here’s the privacy screen. You can dial in the planet here, and the communicator code. I assume the person you are attempting to contact has a standard intergalactic comms station?”

Thor nodded. “It might not be turned on, but it’s there.”

“You can leave a message if it isn’t. This button is used to close the connection. Any questions?”  
  
“I think I’ve got it,” he replied. “Can I contact you if I get turned around?”  
  
There was that blush again. “S–sure.” She walked over to a series of drawers and opened one, pulling out a small device. She pressed a few buttons and handed it to him. “It’s an intra-station communicator. I programmed my code into it. Press this button and I’ll get a message.”

Thor grinned broadly. “Thank you for your help.”

Lyja nodded then turned and left the room. He sat down in front of the console and deployed the privacy screens. Without hesitating he typed in a series of numbers and hit the transmit button. The console showed an outgoing signal. After a bit it terminated and a message broadcast over the small speakers.

“You’ve reached the communicator of the King of Asgard,” Valkyrie’s voice said. “Assuming you have legitimate business with the King, leave a message and I’ll get back to you eventually.”

Thor smiled at the message and felt a pang of missing his friends. He would need to visit Midgard again soon. The console beeped, and he cleared his throat. “Hi Valkyrie. It’s Thor. Just thought I’d call and see how things are going in New Asgard. I’m doing well. We’re helping with an operation against the Kree. Did you ever meet one on Sakaar? Anyway, I have some kind of big, er, personal news, but it can wait. Give my greetings to everyone. You can always reach me on my text communicator, or on the Benatar.”

He pressed a button and the connection terminated. He sat there for a moment, unsure of what to do next. The decision to call Valkyrie had been an impulse, and even when he had started the call he hadn’t intended on saying anything about him and Carol, but then the thing about personal news had just spilled out of him. Oh well, at least she wasn’t actually there. He pushed back from the console and got up. Maybe he’d explore the station a bit more.

Thor was standing on a bridge, looking at part of the station, when his text communicator buzzed. He pulled it out and looked down at it.

_I don’t care if you’re boning someone. Let me know if you make an heir._

Thor flushed when he read the message. How did she always seem to know everything?

“Watch yourself, Odinson,” Fury said from behind him.

Thor jumped and turned, pushing the communicator back into his pocket. “Odin’s beard, Fury! You startled me,” he exclaimed. Fury looked amused. “Why am I watching myself?” Thor asked as his heart rate dropped.

“Getting romantically involved with Carol Danvers is dangerous business.”

“I’m not…” Thor started protesting, but Fury cut him off with a wave of his hand.  
  
“I’m sure that kiss in the hallway was strictly friendly,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Thor’s eyes widened. “Wha— How did you—?”

“You think there’s anything that goes on on my station that I don’t know about? Don’t be a fool.”

This was getting irritating. “Look, if you’re going to tell me that if I break her heart you’ll come hunt me down, don’t bother. I’ve heard it. And if you guys are so concerned about her why didn’t you go after the guys who _did_ hurt her?”

“Who said I didn’t?” Fury replied, arms crossed in front of him. “But you misunderstand me. I know better than most that Carol can take care of herself. She’s the strongest person I’ve ever known, and not just physically. But sometimes a crack forms in that tough exterior, and she lets someone in. _That_ is when she is vulnerable.”

Thor looked at him, somewhat confused. “Then why did you say it was dangerous?”  
  
“Because I think she let you in. I don’t know those other assholes, but you? I know where you live. So to speak. Look, it may not seem like it, but I like you, Thor. I just like her more.”

“That’s something we have in common,” Thor replied.

Fury gave a short laugh. He started walking away, then stopped and half turned back toward Thor. “You guys make a terrifying couple, you know that? I’m glad you’re on our side.”

Thor grinned. “Just wait until you see us in action.”

****

Being on the station was running Carol ragged. There were a lot more people here than when she had visited earlier, and they all seemed to need something from her. She needed rest, especially because they had a planned strike tomorrow. But first she had to find Thor and the Guardians and tell them about said strike, so they could be ready. She stood outside the Benatar, gathering enough energy to go deal with the crew in there. They were her friends, but sometimes they wore on you. Finally, she took a breath and boarded the ship. The Guardians were mostly scattered around the common area, and they all looked up when she appeared.

“What have you been up to?” Rocket asked.

Carol gave a short laugh and shook her head. “Everything. Nothing. Ready for some action tomorrow?”

“Hell yeah! What’s the job?” Quill replied.

“The guards gave up the location of a major Kree military hub orbiting a toxic planet not too far away.”

Nebula looked interested. “How did you get them to talk?”  
  
“We had a Skrull in Kree form inside the detention facilities. One of our best. He was able to convince them that he had been taken captive by us as well. The guards started talking about trying to get help from the hub,” Carol explained.

“Impressive,” Nebula commented.

“So what’s the big deal with this hub? Can’t you just go flying through everything and _poof_ it’s gone?” Rocket asked.

Carol shook her head. “This is too big for that. When I say major, I mean _major_. Thousands of craft, a huge fueling station, and a big munitions depot. Plus there’s likely valuable intel on the computers if we can patch in.”

“So get one of your Skrull pals to look like a Kree,” Quill suggested.

“They have a way of detecting Skrulls. An agent wouldn’t get two feet before being taken. That’s why we need your help.”

“What do you need us to do?” Gamora asked.

Carol took a deep breath. “Gamora and Nebula will take the pod to the station. They’ll tell them they have valuable information to trade. Once they get on board, Nebula will have to get access to the computers.”  
  
“I can pull off all the data, but it will be encrypted,” she said, nodding.

“We have people that can crack it here. The issue is that once you start downloading the data, you’ll trigger an alarm. They’ll lock the hub down. Nothing in or out. Which is what we want.”

“Hold on a minute,” Quill said, standing up. “You’re telling me the plan is to get Gamora and Nebula _locked inside_ the Kree hub?”

“Temporarily,” Carol replied.

He shook his head. “No way, it’s too dangerous.”

“I think we can decide that for ourselves,” Gamora told him. She looked at Carol. “What happens after that?”

“Our attack force jumps in, along with the rest of you,” Carol replied, looking around at them.“With the lockdown, they won’t put any ships into space for fear that one could be carrying stolen data.”

“The hub will have defensive weapons, yes?” Drax asked.

“It will. Our people will engage them so that we can fly a bomb in close.”

“You still haven’t said how we get them back,” Quill accused, pointing at the sisters.

Carol nodded. “That’s where you guys come in. I’ll blast a hole into the hub so you can land. The only wild card is that we don’t know exactly where they’ll be.”

“So you tell us where you’ll blast in, and we’ll be there,” Nebula said.

Quill gestured at Carol. “What will you be doing after you blast in?”  
  
“Thor and I will make sure that if they decide to break the lockdown that they don’t get any birds in the air,” she replied. Then she stopped, and looked around. “Where _is_ Thor?”  
  
“Still on the station,” Mantis offered. “Do you need us to help you look?”  
  
Carol shook her head. “I’ll find him. I’m gonna stay on the station tonight, so I’ll see you in the morning?”

As she looked around everyone was nodding, some more grudgingly than others. Well, they could have their own discussions about it after she was gone. She left the Benatar, wondering where Thor might be. It was a big station, and there were a lot of places to look. So she started asking random passers-by if they’d seen him.

“Have you seen Thor? Asgardian? Tall, buff, good-looking?”

Everyone shook their heads, until she asked a young woman. The girl flushed in that way that only Skrulls can. “Yes, Captain. I helped him send a message to C–53.”

Carol raised an eyebrow. “When was this?”  
  
“Several hours ago,” the girl answered. “But I gave him an intra-station communicator. You can hail him on it.” She withdrew a small device from her pocket, pressed a few buttons, and held it out to Carol.

Carol looked at the communicator. They were new tech, built to work only within the boundaries of the station. Thor’s name glowed on the small screen, along with a number. “What’s this?” Carol asked, pointing to a small map icon.

“The communicators also have locators. You can find him anywhere in the station.”

Carol pressed the button, and a tiny diagram of the station showed on the screen with a blinking dot. He appeared to be on the top-most bridge. She made a note of it and tried to hand the device back to the girl.

“Keep it,” she told Carol, putting her hand up. “I’ll get another one. The number for this one is already programmed into his.” Carol gave her a questioning look. “He asked, in case he had questions about the communicator consoles,” the Skrull said, blushing again.

“Thanks,” Carol replied, slipping the device in her pocket. “What’s your name?”

“Lyja,” the girl replied. “You’re welcome. Anything for Captain Marvel.” With that, she turned and fled before Carol could say anything.

It wasn’t the first time she’d encountered some hero-worship among the Skrulls. She wondered if the blushing and awkwardness was just that, or if Thor was responsible. He’d never do anything, she knew, but she’d seen women making eyes at him in places where they had stopped before. As she walked she thought about what the effect would be when they made their relationship public. How fast would the news spread?

Carol had to admit, the view up here was amazing. He seemed to be transfixed, staring out into space. He didn’t even turn when she approached him.

“How long have you been up here?” she asked, looking out at the galaxy from beside him.

“Mmmm, a while,” he answered. After a bit he looked down at her and smiled. “How did you find me?”  
  
Carol pulled out the small communicator. “Got this from someone named Lyja.”

“She’s nice. Very helpful.”

She smirked at the description. “I think she’s rather taken with you.”  
  
Thor looked surprised. “Is she? That’s too bad.”

“Why?”

Looking back out into space, he replied, “Because my heart belongs to someone else.”

Carol slipped her hand into his and he gave it a squeeze. They stood, hand in hand, in comfortable silence, looking out at the stars. “She said you contacted Earth?” she asked eventually.

“I wanted to talk to Valkyrie. She wasn’t in, though.”

“We should visit New Asgard after this operation is done,” Carol suggested.

Thor nodded. “It’s been too long. I need to see my people.”

“Speaking of operations…” she said, and he looked at her again. “We have a big day tomorrow. I’ll fill you in our way to the rooms.”

“Rooms on the station?”

“Yeah, they have a variety. We can probably even get a real bed,” she replied with a grin as they began walking.

Thor looked concerned. “Uhh…”

“What is it?”  
  
“It’s just… well, Fury talked to me today. Said he knew everything that went on in the station,” Thor said uncertainly.

“That’s just a figure of speech.”

Thor stopped her. “No, he knew about the kiss. Earlier.”

Carol smiled and shook her head. “He probably noticed something between us earlier. _Then_ he probably noticed that aide acting weird and extracted the info out of him. He’s a spy, but he’s old school in a lot of ways.”  
  
“You’re sure?”  
  
She rose up on her tip toes and kissed him. “I’m sure. All I have energy for tonight is sleeping, anyway.”

He nodded, smiling. “Lead the way.”

The rooms were tucked away in a quiet wing of the station. It was late enough that few were still up, but they found someone still working near the entrance to the residential area. He looked up at them and smiled when he saw Carol.

“Your room is ready for you, Captain.”

Now Carol looked surprised. “My room?”

“Yes, there’s a suite set aside for you,” the worker replied. “Follow me.”

Both of them followed him down the hallway to an unassuming door. The worker unlocked it and opened the door into the room for them, handing Carol the key.

“Will your friend be needing a room as well?”

Carol looked at Thor. “Ah… no,” she said, hoping the lighting was dim enough to hide her the redness inher face.

“Very well then, have a good night,” the worker replied, studiously not reacting to what she had said. He nodded to Carol and turned, walking back down the corridor.

Thor and Carol looked at each other for a moment, then walked into the room. The suite was large, and the decorations were comfortable but functional. There was a living area with a couch and chair, and, through a set of double doors, a rather large bed. Carol was still looking around the room when Thor unexpectedly swept her off her feet and carried her into the bedroom. He laid her carefully on the bed with a devilish grin.

“You remember what I said before, right? About sleep?” she teased.

“I know, I know,” he replied with only a moderate amount of disappointment. Then he pulled pulled off his jacket and shirt, and she had to remind herself of what she had said.

Taking off her suit jacket and pants, Carol slipped underneath the covers, relishing the feel of the soft sheets. The Skrulls had made sure that anyone who had to live on the station were comfortable doing so. Thor got into the other side of the bed and scooted toward the middle, wrapping her in his arms and pulling her close. She wondered if she would be able to get her mind to stop racing, thinking about the next day’s mission, but as she relaxed in his arms and lay her head on his shoulder she fell quickly into a deep sleep.


	18. Chapter 18

“Are you ready?” Nebula asked as she stood before the computer terminal.

“As I’ll ever be,” Gamora replied as she clicked the last piece of the gun into place. The large weapon had been devised by Rocket to be smuggled into the hub in many small parts. The most difficult had been the energy core that powered it, but the Kree had bought that it was powering some of Nebula’s robotics.

They had been left alone in a small room, as planned. It only had one door, but they had scanned the perimeter—enabled by another smuggled Rocket invention—and determined that the wall opposite the door abutted a corridor. They knew where the Benatar would be landing, so it would just be a matter of navigating through the hub, which the scanner would help with.

Nebula took a deep breath and plunged her fingers into the computer terminal. It blinked for a few seconds, then the download initialized. At the same time, an alarm blared all around them. Gamora readied the gun. The door was heavily barricaded, but they would get through it before too long.

Time seemed to crawl as the files downloaded. Gamora watched the progress bar grow steadily until a crash drew her attention to the door. The barricade held, for now, but the door itself was buckling.

“Nebula, hurry,” Gamora urged, watching the door.

“I’m going as fast as I can,” Nebula growled in response.

With 5% left, the door ruptured. Several Kree came spilling into the room, and Gamora blasted them. It was enough to make the rest of them in the corridor pause.

“DONE!” Nebula yelled, yanking her hand from the computer.

Turning, Gamora dialed the power up on the gun and blasted a person-sized hole in the far wall. Nebula stepped through first into a clear corridor while Gamora backed out, still watching the door of the room that had held them.

They ran. The corridors turned this way and that, and more than once they had to duck into an alcove and wait until the soldiers had passed. At times Gamora wished she could just blast her way straight through the rooms in their way, but it would draw too much attention to their flight. After another long hallway turned into a dead end, she looked down at the timer strapped to her arm. They were late.

****

“They’re late!” Quill shouted, pacing inside the small space. “Where are they?!”  
  
“They probably just took a wrong turn. They’ll be there soon,” Carol said over the comms as she floated outside the hub. From her vantage point she could see the hole she had blasted and the Benatar parked inside. On the other side of the hub, Thor was blasting through docks housing hundreds of ships. She needed to get busy on her side. Quill was still grumbling over the comms.

“They’ll be there,” she said again as she blasted toward the small craft hanging on the side of the hub. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

****

They had definitely taken a wrong turn somewhere. They were so close, but now they stood on a bridge overlooking an inexplicable chasm. The Benatar lay just beyond the other side, they knew. They had already turned to try to get around one end when a person appeared on the opposite bridge.

“GAMORA!” he called across to them.

Gamora looked back. “Peter?”  
  
“You idiot,” Nebula muttered, shaking her head.

“Hey!” he called, as if they hadn’t seen him. “We’re over here!”

Gamora almost yelled back to tell him to shut up, that he was going to attract the Kree. It was too late. As they watched, a group of soldiers appeared behind Quill and grabbed him, dragging him backward off the bridge. Gamora ran to the edge of her bridge, but there was nothing to do. He was too far away.

“PETER!!” she screamed, knuckles pale as she tightly gripped the railing.

Then she felt Nebula grab her arm and pull her away. She barely processed what was happening. The Kree had Peter, and all she could think about was getting him back. Then, suddenly, they were back at the Benatar. The ship was taking fire from several clumps of soldiers, and Gamora blasted one with the gun she was still holding as they ran.

“They have Peter! They have Peter…” she said through heaving breaths as they burst into the common area of the ship.

****

“Guys, what’s going on?” Carol asked as she blasted through another line of ships.

“Quill got his dumb ass captured!” Rocket yelled.

“You gotta be shitting me,” she muttered, shaking her head. “You better find him quickly! You don’t have long.”  
  
“Can’t you tell them to delay the bomb?” Mantis asked, a desperate note in her voice.

“No one can do anything with the bomb! It’s on autopilot. You have two minutes until impact. Get him out of there!” Carol yelled.

****

Gamora had left the Benatar as soon as Carol said there were two minutes. Only half the Guardians noticed that she had gone.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Rocket demanded over the communicator she had grabbed.

“I’m getting him back,” she said through gritted teeth as she ran.

“We can’t stay here,” Nebula said, and Gamora heard an explosion.

Gamora turned a corner and paused as several Kree soliders jogged past her. “Take off,” she whispered. “I need a scan of the hub to find out where they took him. You need to do it from space. Pick us up outside the nearest exterior wall.”

“Are you crazy? You don’t have a shield!” Rocket said.

“Just do it!” Gamora demanded.

With that, she emerged from her hiding place and took off running down the hall. She could hear grumbling over the comms, but also the sounds of the ship taking off. She kept running in the direction that she felt must be right.

Before long, her comms crackled to life again. “20 meters ahead of you,” Nebula said. “Take a right, then a left, then another left. The wall at the far end of that hall is an exterior one. 60 seconds left.”

Gamora’s heart was pounding and she picked up speed, skidding as she rounded the corners. After the second left she saw him, surrounded by Kree, at the end of the corridor. They were all facing away from her. Looking down at the gun, she dialed it up to maximum energy. It would drain the cell; she had one shot.

“PETER!” she yelled.

Everyone turned to look at her. The Kree started swinging weapons forward. She gave a short nod toward the ground, and he understood. He dropped like a dead weight, breaking out of the hands of the Kree holding him. Gamora pulled the trigger. The blast took out the soldiers and blew a large hole in the wall of the hub. For a second, it felt like her heart stopped until she saw him move on the ground.

Throwing the spent gun to the side, she ran over to Quill. He grabbed her hand and she pulled him up to standing. At that moment she wasn’t thinking, her body was all adrenaline and impulse. She grabbed his head in both hands and kissed him.

He was clearly shocked, and before he could even react Nebula’s voice in her ear said, “Thirty seconds.”

She pulled away, leaving him dumbfounded. “We gotta go,” she told him.

“Wait, you don’t have a shield!” he protested, brought back to their present situation.

“No time,” she replied. She turned to look out the hole in the hub’s exterior and saw the Benatar floating just outside the hub’s artificial atmosphere. “I’ll be fine, let’s go.”

Swearing. Quill triggered his helmet and grabbed her around the waist. They blasted through the hole and moved swiftly towards the Benatar.

“Stay with me,” she heard Quill say just before she passed out from lack of oxygen.

****

“She did _what_?!” Carol asked, standing back inside the Benatar.

“She kissed him. We could see them through the hole,” Mantis said.

Gamora was still asleep, but Nebula had run the all the tests and confirmed that she was stable. Carol looked over to where Quill sat in one of the forward chairs, staring into space. He’d apparently been doing that since Nebula had shooed him out of the room, saying that hovering wasn’t doing Gamora any good.

“That’s unexpected,” she said finally.

Mantis shrugged. “Not really.”

“Do you know something?” Carol asked, raising an eyebrow.

“If I did, I wouldn’t tell,” Mantis replied cagily. “Not without permission.”

“Fair enough. Has he said anything?”  
  
Mantis shook her head. “No.”

Carol watched as Thor dropped into the seat next to Quill. She wondered what he’d say to Quill, and if Quill would respond.

“You and Thor can have my room,” Mantis said suddenly.

Carol looked at her sharply. “What?”

“I have a big bed. But I don’t mind switching.”

“W–why would we switch?” Carol asked, trying to play dumb.

Mantis looked slightly confused. “I assumed you would prefer more room when you’re sleeping in the same bed. Do you not?”

Carol swore under her breath and looked at the ceiling. After a moment she looked back at Mantis. “That obvious, huh?”

Mantis grinned and nodded. “You guys are cute.”

“Does everyone know?” Carol asked, blushing.

Mantis shrugged. “Probably not Drax. Oh! Groot probably doesn’t know.”

Laughing, Carol shook her head. “Thanks, Mantis.”

“For the bedroom?”  
  
“For the reality check.”

****

If Quill noticed that he sat down next to him, he didn’t show it. Thor followed his gaze into space. He didn’t really know what to say to Quill or even why he’d come over here, but he thought maybe he should just be there. They sat in silence.

“How did you know?” Quill asked after a while, surprising Thor.

“What?”

“How did you know that she was in love with you?”

Thor’s eyes widened, then he tried to cover with a confused smile. “W–who?”  
  
“Danvers.”

“I–I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Thor replied with a short laugh.

Quill looked at him. “C’mon, man.”  
  
Thor stared at him for a minute, then said, “She told me.”

“Yeah, that’s what Gamora did the first time,” Quill sighed, looking back out into space. “I don’t wanna get my hopes up, but…”

“But they’re already up,” Thor finished.

“Yeah.”

“Look, the first time Carol kissed me, she ran off for like a month. Gamora’s still here! Of course, she’s still unconcious, so…” Thor trailed off, realizing what he was saying. “Sorry, not helpful. But my point is, just… don’t give up hope.”

“Thanks… I think,” Quill said, his brow furrowed. He was quiet for a stretch of time, then said, “I knew it, by the way. I knew something happened before she left.”

“Yeah yeah, you’re really smart. You don’t have any ideas of how to tell everyone, do you?”  
  
Quill scoffed. “Why bother? Everyone knows.”

“Really?” Thor said, taken aback. He thought they’d been pretty discreet.

“Yeah, dude. Well I mean Drax probably doesn’t. He’s pretty oblivious about these things. Wait, what were you gonna do, make an annoucement? That’s weird.”

Thor shook his head, laughing to show how absurd the idea was. “No, of course not. That would be weird.”

The two men looked at each other for a moment, then Thor stood up. “Well, I’m glad we had this talk. Good luck with the Gamora… situation.”

He turned and walked back to the common area of the ship. Everyone except Gamora and Quill sat or stood in the small area, reading, napping, gaming, chatting. Carol was standing in one corner, engaging in the latter with Mantis. Thor walked up to them and they paused their conversation. Carol was looking at him with a smirk on her face and a sparkle in her eye. _What the hell,_ he thought. In one fluid motion he grabbed her around the waist, pulled her against him, and gave her an enthusiastic kiss. He felt her stiffen in his arms but she didn’t pull away. Eventually he finished his kiss and withdrew, smiling at her. She was blushing as she immediately looked around the room.

Everyone was staring at them. Even Groot had looked up from his game and gaped with an open mouth. Drax, too, looked surprised; Nebula, indifferent; Mantis, delighted.

“I thought we were going to discuss how to tell them,” Carol whispered through a tight smile without looking at him.

Thor was just grinning. “Well, now they know.”


	19. Chapter 19

Gamora woke up abruptly, launching herself into a seated position. It was dim in the small room, and she rubbed her eyes.

“Nebula? Where am I?”

“On the ship,” her sister replied.

“Did… did it work?”

Nebula gave a short nod. “It did.”

The last few minutes before she had passed out were fuzzy, but suddenly it all came rushing back to her. “Oh god,” she breathed, “did I actually…”

“You did.”

Gamora leaned forward, putting her head in her hands. “Why did I do that? What was I thinking??”  
  
“You weren’t,” Nebula said simply.

“What do I do now?”  
  
“You could run away and never see us again… or you can deal with it. I’d prefer the latter, honestly.”

Gamora looked up at her sister. “You’re right. I can’t run. I’ll just tell him… it was a mistake. I didn’t mean it.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll understand,” Nebula said archly.

“Really?”  
  
“No.”

“NEBULA.”

Nebula just shrugged. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it soon. We’ll be arriving at the station shortly.” She turned and left the room.

Despite the warning, Gamora made no move to do anything. Instead, she dropped her head back down into her hands. A thousand scenerios ran through her head where she confronted Quill, and none ended well. It was probably a pointless exercise, anyway. The one thing she was trying to avoid is thinking about _why_ she had done it in the first place, but her brain pulled her in that direction anyway. She felt a tightness in her chest when she remembered the sheer panic she had felt when she saw them drag him away. Then there was the way she had run off after him without consulting anyone, putting them all in jeopardy. It was so unlike her. Frustrated with her inability to make sense of her own actions, she curled her hands into fists and let out a frustrated growl as she stood up.

Someone knocked quietly at the door, and she felt her breath catch in her throat. Whoever it was had probably heard her outburst. She felt herself hoping it was anyone but Peter. Carol, maybe. Or Mantis. Taking a breath, she walked over to the door and opened it.

Quill stood on the other side, his mouth curved into some semblance of a smile. Gamora cursed internally. Well, it would be dealt with now.

“Hi, Gamora,” he said. “I came to make sure you were ok?”

She exhaled, not realizing she’d been holding her breath. “I’m fine,” she managed to say.

There was silence as he stood there, waiting for her to continue. Waiting for her to say anything. She couldn’t come up with the words. Eventually, he broke the silence. “It’s ok. Nebula told me.”  
  
“Told you what?” Gamora said, too quickly.

“That it was a… a mistake,” he said, choking on the word. “You just did it impulsively.” He was still smiling that plastered-on smile, but he couldn’t hide the anguish beneath it. After a moment, he looked away, unable to keep meeting her gaze. His expression was like a knife was twisting in her gut. The idea that she was causing him such pain was horrifying.

“Peter, I…” she started, unsure of what to say. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

He looked up at her, his eyes slightly red around the edges. “Nah,” he said dismissively, not selling his nonchalance. “I’m fine. Great, even. We just blew up a Kree hub. Why wouldn’t I be fine?”

The knife twisted further. Before she could say anything else, though, he turned and walked away. She almost called after him. Something in her desperatedly wanted to tell him that she was confused, unsure… but that she cared about him. She swallowed hard as she watched his retreating form. For the first time, she felt like something in her _wanted_ to be the woman he thought she was. It seemed so easy to just say she was falling in love with him, just because some version of her had. Some future self she might never be. The truth was she still barely knew him, but now she had messed everything up. She sighed and closed the door. She couldn’t face all of them, not now. Maybe it would be easier when they had gotten to the station and had debriefs to do, things to keep them busy. Surely it would be less awkward.

****

When she walked into the common area after the ship had docked at the station, she realized she had been sorely mistaken. Quill was nowhere to be seen, which was a small mercy. Regardless, everyone else looked at her with inscruitable expressions. She knew they had seen her kiss him; Nebula had made that clear. For her part she still wore that insufferable smirk that twists her mouth every time she knows something that Gamora doesn’t. But in the end, it wasn’t her new friends’ scruitiny that put Gamora ill at ease, but rather those that weren’t even looking at her.

Carol seemed engrossed in whatever she was reading on the tablet in her hands, as did Thor. They both sat on a long bench; Carol had her legs stretched out and was reclining against Thor, who for his part had his arms wrapped around her and was reading over her shoulder. It wasn’t just the intimate posture, but how relaxed they were in it. Like being in love was the most normal thing in the world. Which, of course, it was, but not to Gamora. If someone had told her that she had fallen in love, she would have laughed in their face. She had, in fact, when Nebula had said that. Love was weak. That’s what Thanos had taught her. She shook her head, trying to chase him out of her head. Thor murmured something in Carol’s ear, causing her to smile. Gamora would dare anyone to call _that_ love weak.

As she stood there, watching the couple, Carol closed down the tablet and swung her legs down off the bench. Thor released her reluctantly as she sat up, and the look on his face sparked a twinge of regret deep within Gamora. The idea that someone could look at her like that seemed unbelievable, and yet she knew that all she had to do was ask. She closed her eyes, pushing the thought out of her mind. She wasn’t the person he was in love with, no matter what he said.

“Gamora,” Carol said, realizing she was standing there. Apparently in the time Gamora had been unconcious Thor and Carol had become old news, because Carol didn’t even have the good grace to look embarassed at being seen in such an intimate position. Instead, she looked concerned. “How are you doing?”  
  
Gamora crossed her arms tightly in front of her, almost hugging herself. “I’m fine,” she said, without conviction. “Do we have a debrief?”

Carol did not look satisfied with this answer, but let it go for the moment. “Yeah, in a few minutes. Fury is meeting us.”

Gamora gave a short nod. She wanted to be doing something, anything other than standing around here. Fortunately, it seemed like they were about to leave. Carol stood along with Thor, and the others took it as their cue as well.

“I am Groot,” Groot said petulantly, still playing his game.

Rocket looked back at him. “Well don’t go, then. Not like you did anything that needs debriefing.”

“I am Groot!”  
  
“No one’s saying you’re useless,” Nebula replied, a surprising kindness in her voice. “But if you want to help you will eventually have to put the video game down.”

Groot just grunted, focusing on his game.

“Where’s Peter?” Gamora eventually asked as casually as possible as they were walking down the ramp of the ship. It seemed odd that none of them were concerned about his absence.

“I’m here,” he said from below them, coming out from underneath the Benatar. He was wiping his hands on his pants, not caring that the grease left dark smears. He had clearly been working on the ship, and Gamora wondered whether there was actually something to be done or if he was just trying to keep busy. He still wore the mask of indifference, as if nothing had happened, but in reality he was terrible at concealing his emotions.

“You done cleaning things that don’t need cleaning?” Rocket asked him derisively. Ah, so it was trying to keep busy.

Quill gave him an irritated look. “It was really dirty!”

“As if you cared before. You do know you look like a hot mess?” Rocket shot back.

“And we’re meeting with the director!” Mantis added.

Carol smirked. “Fury doesn’t care.”

“See? Thank you,” Quill said, glaring at Rocket.

He studiously avoided looking at Gamora, and she felt her heart sink. Clearly, the issue was not dealt with. Well, there was nothing to do for it now. They walked in silence through the passages of the station except for when Carol would greet someone they passed. She led the small group with Thor walking in step close beside her despite the difference in stride lengths. He was practically glued to her, constantly glancing at her with a grin on his face. It was enough to make a person ill, Gamora thought, lagging at the back of the group.

“So the Guardians of the Galaxy live up to their name,” Fury said as they walked up to him. He ushered them into a small conference room.

“Yeah, well, it was a piece of cake,” Quill blustered, puffing up a bit.

“‘Cept for that part where you amost got blown up,” Rocket taunted.

“Well, I didn’t.”

“Have you thanked Gamora?” Drax asked, surprising her.

It surprised Quill as well, and he turned red. “Yeah. Yeah of course,” he replied, looking at the floor.

Gamora looked at Fury, who was watching the whole exchange with a look of bemusement on his face. “With your help we took out the largest Kree hub in this quadrant,” he said, ignoring them. “And, more importantly, obtained a map of every other Kree station, hub, and outpost. We’re still decoding the rest of the data you extracted.” He looked at Nebula and she inclined her head slightly. “My people have already transfered a token of our gratitude to your accounts. It’s not much, but it will hopefully defray the cost of lost jobs.”  
  
“We didn’t do this for pay,” Nebula started.

“But we will certainly take it,” Rocket finished.

Fury just smirked at them. “I’m hoping we can convince you to help us out some more. We can’t offer you pay, but there’s something in it for you.”  
  
“Such as…?” Rocket prompted.

Fury pulled up a projection of the galaxy. A bunch of red dots scattered across the screen glared out at them. “These are all the locations with a Kree base. The smallest ones are outposts. No heavy weaponry, but some contain important tech. They are lightly held because the Kree believe no one knows where they are.” He swiped again, and some of the red dots shifted to blue. They were all clustered around the quadrant containing the Sol system. “These are the outposts nearest to Earth. Terra. C–53. Whatever you want to call it. We want you to destroy them. Get in, get out, and don’t let anyone know who you are or where you came from. In exchange, you can have whatever tech you find. Sell it, keep it, but make sure it doesn’t get traced back to you.”

“This seems dangerous,” Drax said.

“It is.”

Drax grinned. “Excellent.”

Gamora looked around at the others. Rocket looked like he couldn’t wait to get his hands on the Kree tech; Nebula’s expression was nearly unreadable, but Gamora could tell that the mission intrigued her. Carol was watching the others as well, and Thor was watching her. Mantis just looked excited to be there. Her eyes stopped when she got to Quill. He was staring at her. She dropped her gaze, not knowing if he was still looking at her. He had looked concerned, like he was afraid she would turn down the job and leave. Like he was afraid of losing her again. He had also looked like he was daring her to stay. She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat.

“We’ll do it,” she heard Quill say.

Fury smiled. “Outstanding. I’ll have the coordinates sent to your comms. We can also provide you with a replacement ship…”  
  
“Woah woah woah,” Quill interrupted, Rocket right there with him. “Who said anything about replacing the Benatar?”

“A _temporary_ replacement,” Fury clarified. “You have to admit that ship of yours is extremely distinctive. Did you forget part of this mission is being unidentifiable?”

“Oh, yeah,” Quill said as Rocket nodded grudgingly.

“Your ship will be safe here on the station,” Fury offered.

“Groot’s not going to like this,” Mantis put in. Gamor remembered walking by the open door to his room once, vines everywhere.

“Groot will survive,” Rocket said. He turned to Fury. “We get to pick the ship?”  
  
Fury arched an eyebrow. “Within reason.”

Rocket just grinned, and Gamora wondered just what they would end up on. Fury tapped a few buttons and a moment later a young Skrull appeared in the door to the room.

“Take them to the docks. They’re to pick out a ship from the B section,” Fury told the aide, who nodded and stepped away from the door. Everyone moved to follow him. “Danvers, a moment?” he said, and Carol turned. Thor hesitated, clearly not wanting to leave without Carol. “You, too,” Fury told the god, and Gamora saw a slightly concerned expression come over his face before she left the room, following the Guardians.


	20. Chapter 20

“You still planning on hanging with those chuckleheads, or are you available?” Fury asked, the look of bemusement never leaving his face.

Carol shot a furtive glance towards Thor, standing next to and slightly behind her. She couldn’t quite see his face and his reaction to Fury’s inquiry. Her mind was reeling as she tried to figure out how to answer. She hadn’t really considered that Fury might ask her to take on a solo mission, which was stupid. Of course he’d want her doing bigger things than taking out small outposts. But then what did that mean for her and Thor? Fury had asked him to stay as well, so perhaps it was a mission for both of them?

“Do you need me?” she asked finally, making no commitments either way.

“If you’re asking if we can handle it without you, we can. But this particular mission would benefit from your—ah—experience,” Fury replied cryptically.

Carol narrowed her eyes, trying to read him. He seemed slightly uncomfortable, as if he had news she wouldn’t like. “Out with it, Fury.”

“One of the things we’ve found in the data from the hub is the location and mission of someone you are, er… familiar with.”

Carol felt her stomach drop. Most of the Kree she had known were dead, killed in the Kree-Skrull war or by the Guardians. There was an exception. Her fingernails were digging into her palms as her hands clenched in tight fists. It had been almost thirty years.

“Yon-rogg,” she whispered, barely audible. She felt a change in the energy of the room and knew Thor was reacting to what she had said.

Fury’s eyes were on the god, but he spoke to Carol. “Yes,” he confirmed, not without sympathy in his voice. “We’d just go blow him up, but…”

“But somehow he’s managed to worm his way back up the ladder and has vital information,” Carol finished for him, knowing it to be true even as she spoke it. She was looking at the floor, willing herself to get it under control. She didn’t let him get to her, even when she sent him back to the Supreme Intelligence all those years ago, but the idea of seeing him again was… distressing, to say the least.

“He’s leading the entire invasion of Earth,” Fury said, confirming her worst fears.

Before she could say anything, Thor moved forward so that he was standing next to her and leaned in. She could feel the crackle in the air, as if a storm was brewing in the small conference room. She supposed it was.

“This guy,” he said quietly to her, though she knew Fury could hear him, “he’s the one…”

She put a hand on his arm in an attempt to convince him she was ok, but it wasn’t working. Her hand trembled, and she gave him a small squeeze in response.

He wheeled on Fury. “I fail to see how it’s necessary that she be involved in this mission,” he growled.

“No one can get close to him like she can,” Fury said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Anyone else would be intimidated by the looming god, but he looked unperturbed. “Preventing this invasion is our goal, yes. But even if we do, there will be another, not to mention the hundreds of other invasions they are planning. Yon-rogg has vital information about the Supreme Intelligence. Information we could use to destroy it. Getting that is our only hope of finally ending this war.”

Thor was not placated. “There has to be another way.”

“I’ll do it,” Carol interrupted, before anything else could be said. The last thing she needed was two men arguing about what she could or couldn’t do, regardless of how much both cared about her.

Thor looked at her, his face etched with worry. “Are you sure?” he whispered.

“I’ll be fine. I promise,” she told him, then looked at Fury. “Give me his location.” Her voice was steely. She had managed to squash the anxious feelings that had grown inside of her; now she was stoked by anger that he had weaseled his way back to prominence. She had no doubt that this push to invade Earth was driven by him, designed to get back at her after all these years.

Fury pulled up a new map on the screen behind him. A small marker blinked on a planet several systems over. “We don’t know how many people he has with him. You’ll need stealth to get into his inner circle. Surely one of the Kree suits we have will fit Mr. Odinson here.”

Carol’s eyebows shot up in surprise. “Thor?” She didn’t know how she felt about this. On one hand, his support would be invaluable. On the other, he might just kill Yon-rogg before they found anything out. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea…”

“I know you can handle yourself,” Fury replied. “But this isn’t just any mission. You could use someone watching your back.”

“For once, Fury and I agree on something,” Thor told her. “If you’re doing this, I’m coming.”

She looked at him. His face was set with determination laced with anger and worry. “Thor…” she pleaded, as if she could change his mind. For the first time in weeks she felt that familiar twisting of her own worry. She worked alone for a reason, and it wasn’t because she liked being lonely. She already almost lost him to the Kree once, and now they wanted her to bring him into danger once again? What if something happened to him?

Thor just shook his head. “I’m coming,” he told her, leaving no room for argument in his tone.

Carol sighed and looked back at Fury, who was waiting for the outcome of their discussion. “Point us to the suits.” She couldn’t shake the feeling of dread at the idea, but she did her best to shove it down deep into her gut.

Fury grinned and began walking toward the door. Thor still had his hand on hers, holding it to his arm as they followed him out into the station. Normally she would have pulled away, avoided the public display of intimacy, but at this moment she was thankful for the reminder of his presence.

The supply room was small but well-organized. A variety of weapons from around the universe hung on the wall or were tucked away in small drawers. She had seen it before, when Talos had showed her proudly the first time she had visited, but he hadn’t pointed out the closet in one corner. Fury now opened it, revealing a walk-in full of various costumes. There were a few Starforce suits hanging, then a pile of more parts in a box.

“Knock yourself out,” Fury said. “And make sure you tell me before you leave.”

Carol smirked. “As if I would leave without saying goodbye?”  
  
Fury just gave a her a look that said it all. Well, she had ducked out on occasion when goodbyes had seemed too hard. She hated goodbyes.

He left them to the closet, and Carol began pulling out suits. Focusing on the task at hand helped her not think about the mission they were preparing for. Thor stood next to her, watching as she held up each suit in turn and discarded them for being too small.

“We need a Bron-Char sized suit,” she muttered, starting to pull out jackets from the box.

Thor looked at her curiously. “Who?”

Carol glanced at him and shook her head slightly. “Just a Kree I used to work with. Big guy. No sense of humor.”

“Sounds delightful,” Thor snorted. He grabbed a few jackets and pants as she threw them at him, then caught her arm as she turned to leave. “Where do you think you’re going?”

She rolled her eyes, but with smile on her face. “This closet isn’t big enough for you to change with me in it. I’ll wait out in the supply room.”

He nodded, but didn’t wait for her to leave before he peeled off his shirt. She couldn’t help but take a moment to drink in the sight of his chiseled chest before the door closed behind her. Finding a chair, she flopped into it. Now she was alone, of course, with nothing but her thoughts to occupy her. Doubts crept back into her mind about the mission to come, not about her own role, but Thor’s. It wasn’t only that she felt protective of him—a somewhat absurd thought given he how strong she knew he was—but she worried what he would do when he met Yon-rogg. She flashed back to that day in the training room on the Benatar, remembering Thor’s anger and his promise as to what he’d do if he ever met the Kree. She wondered if he remembered; he probably did, based on his reaction earlier. All she could do is hope he could control himself better than Quill.

Her train of thought was interrupted when the closet door opened and Thor popped out. He had managed to find a matching jacket and pants that actually fit him. Her eyes were drawn to the star on his chest; it had four points, one in each cardinal direction. She didn’t recognize whose it was, and wondered if she had ever met him.

“How do I look?” he asked, striking a pose.

“Like a part of a life I thought I left behind,” Carol answered. Seeing him in a Starforce suit dredged up a lot of strange feelings. She’d had no problem putting on her own Kree colors for a mission, and would do it again. But here was a man she had fallen for, looking for all the galaxy like he was dressing up like another man she’d fallen for many years ago. Look how that turned out. She shook her head, as if to chase away the thought. His brow creased, concern written on his face once again as he watched her reaction. “You look like Starforce. A little beefier than most, but you’ll blend in well enough.”

He walked over to where she was sitting and she stood up, thinking that they would be going, perhaps to tell the Guardians they had a separate mission. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into a kiss. Part of her said she should pull away, that someone could come into the supply room at any moment, but most of her just gave in to his lips, allowing the contact to chase away her worries—if just for a moment. When eventually she did break the kiss, she didn’t pull out of his arms. Instead she leaned in and laid her head on his shoulder, hugging him tightly.

“Thor?” she said eventually.

“Hmmm?”

“Promise me something?”  
  
He pulled back slightly and she looked up at him. “Anything,” he said quietly. In that moment she knew it was true, and it took her breath away.

“Don’t kill Yon-rogg when we find him?” she asked when she found her voice.

The corners of his mouth twitched upwards. “I promise. But I can’t promise I won’t hurt him.”

“Get in line,” she said, a smirk taking over her expression once again.

Thor laughed, then released her from his arms. She fought back a pang of disappointment. If only they could just be together, no war or missions. Maybe some day. She brought up the control panel on her forearm and tapped it a few times, causing her suit to shift to Kree colors. “Now we match,” she said, smiling. “Shall we tell the Guardians we’re not coming with them?”  
  
“Probably a good idea. I need Stormbreaker, too,” he agreed, nodding.

As they moved toward the door he grabbed her hand and laced his fingers through hers. At first the halls were empty, but at the first sign of a person she attempted to pull away. His fingers tightened around her hand, preventing its exit. She flushed, but the Skrull paid no attention to them or at least pretended not to. It wasn’t that she was embarassed about being with him, but public displays always made her uncomfortable. He did eventually release her hand as they approached the Benatar. The Guardians were piling up gear outside to take to the replacement ship. Drax had just dropped a box—Carol hoped there was nothing fragile in it—when he turned and saw them, even as Quill and Nebula were walking down the ship’s ramp.

“Thor! You look like an asshole!” Drax shouted.

“Thanks, I think,” Thor said, laughing.

“Woah dude, what’s with the suit?” Quill asked. Even Nebula looked surprised to see him like this.

Thor glanced at Carol, but when she didn’t say anything he looked back at the assembling Guardians. Rocket had dropped down out of the ship and Mantis had run out upon hearing Drax’s yelling. Even Groot had peeked out at the top of the ramp, curiousity getting the better of him. Carol looked around for Gamora and finally saw her, hanging back away from the others. Clearly she had not come to terms with what had happened on the hub.

“Fury gave us a special mission,” Thor explained, “so we’ll be out of your way for a while.”

Mantis’s antennae drooped slightly. “You’re not coming with us?” she asked sadly.

Carol had been thinking that her presence, and Thor’s to an extent, was a burden. It was always a temporary arrangement, of course, she wasn’t a part of this team. Mantis’s reaction was perhaps not a surprise, as the empath seemed to bond quickly to people, but she was surprised to see something like disappointment on the faces of several of the others as well.

“You will be missed,” Drax said, patting Thor’s shoulder heavily.

“Can I have your training gear?” Quill asked, “Y’know, since you won’t be using it.”

“Guys, we’re not leaving forever,” Carol said, shaking her head at them. She could feel Thor looking at her, and she was wondering if it was the right thing to say. This might be the thing they needed to strike out on their own, after all.

“Well, uh, just in case you don’t make it back,” Quill pushed.

“Quill!” Nebula scolded. She turned back to Carol and Thor. “Let us know if you need anything. We’re just a distress signal away.”

“Thanks,” Carol said, but didn’t know quite what else to say. Yup, she hated goodbyes.

Everyone stood there awkwardly for a minute until Thor broke the silence. “Well, I better get my axe,” he said, walking toward the ship.

It was enough to dispell the tension. Everyone began moving about again, going back onto the ship to bring out more gear for their own mission. Carol felt a pang of guilt, as if she was abandoning them; she had brought them into this operation, gotten them involved, and now they were passing up on other jobs for a mission more dangerous than they might realize. She tried to push the thought out of her head. They were the Guardians, they could clearly take care of themselves.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Gamora, standing near the gear. As she approached the assassin looked up at her, an unreadable expression on her face. “You’re leaving,” she said shortly.

“Is that a problem?” Carol asked, carefully keeping her tone neutral.

Gamora shrugged. “No.” She was silent for a moment, and Carol wondered if Gamora was waiting for her to reply. “I considered leaving as well.”

Carol’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Because you…”  
  
“Yes,” Gamora said before she could finish.

Carol sighed, wondering how much to tell her. What did she know about what had happened before Carol first left them? Maybe nothing. “Believe me, running doesn’t help things,” she said eventually.

“I know,” Gamora replied. “I said I considered it, not that I was running.” She paused, and then appeared to make up her mind about something. “Did you… when you left, did something happen? With Thor?”

So she didn’t know. Carol didn’t really want to talk about it, but she sensed it might help Gamora to hear it. “Yes,” she said eventually, not looking at Gamora. “I— I kissed him. I didn’t really mean to, I guess. It just happened.” Just thinking about that day still made her stomach roil, even though they were long past that.

Gamora didn’t say anything for a while, and Carol couldn’t tell how she was reacting to this information. Then, she asked quietly, “How did you know?”

“I didn’t, not for a while. I fought it. Hid from it. Then I thought I’d lost him, and the pain was unbearable,” Carol replied. It had all happened so recently, it was hard to put into words. But there it was. Gamora looked up at her, and Carol saw fear and uncertainty in her eyes.

“What— what if that h–happens but you’re still not s–sure?” she stammered, looking away again.

Carol cocked her head to the side slightly and furrowed her brow. She could see the similarities in their situations. She laid a hand on Gamora’s shoulder, hoping it was a comforting thing to do. “Don’t rush it. It’s not something you can figure out by thinking about it.”

“And you didn’t think about it at all after you… did it,” Gamora accused.

“I didn’t say that. I know it’s hard not to. But believe me when I say it doesn’t help,” Carol said gently. Gamora nodded, but before she could say anything else Thor came stomping down the ramp of the Benatar. Carol gave Gamora’s arm a small squeeze, then leaned in and whispered, “It’ll be ok.”

Thor grinned broadly as she walked over to him. Wearing the Kree suit and carrying the axe he reminded her briefly of Ronan with his hammer, but she shook the thought out of her head. At least he wasn’t wearing Accuser gear. She was also sure that Ronan never smiled in his life. Thor grabbed her around the waist with his free hand and squeezed her, which elicited feelings of happiness as well as embarrassment at such a display in front of Gamora, who she knew was watching. Pushing the thought out of her mind she pulled away from him and looked back towards the ship. The other Guardians had gathered at the base of the ramp.

“Farewell, morons!” Thor called. Quill groaned and Carol looked between them, apparently missing some inside joke. They waved, and walked off to acquire their own ship for the mission.


	21. Chapter 21

“I thought you said he was demoted,” Thor said as they watched Yon-rogg through the monitor. The young Kree guard in charge of this post, who now lay unconcious on the floor, hadn’t even seen what hit him. From here they could watch several rooms and entrances. Everyone seemed to be going about their business as normal, unaware that Thor and Carol had infiltrated the station.

“He was, last I heard,” Carol replied with irritation. She looked at her former partner, sitting in his fancy office. God, how could he be so infuriating, just sitting there signing documents?

“So how are we playing this?” Thor asked, looking at her. He hadn’t brought his axe, at her insistance, but he still looked like he was itching for a fight.

“ _I_ will handle it,” she said. “It’s a delicate situation. You can wait here.”

He appeared to concede her point, then added, “I’ll watch through the monitor, and you’ll have me on comms. If things go badly I’ll join you.”

She sighed. “You may not like what happens in there,” she warned.

“That’s why I need to watch you,” he replied, missing her point.

“Look, there’s two ways this could go when I go in there: either he hates me, we fight, and I drag him out here begging for his life,” she said. She hesitated.

“Or?” Thor prompted.

“Or he still has feelings for me, and I capitalize on that.”

Thor looked at her as if he didn’t understand, but she could see the anger and pain in his eyes at the idea. “I prefer the first option,” he said darkly.

“As do I. But we may get more information out of the second,” she said.

Thor grunted his unhappy agreement to this last statement as he stared daggers at Yon-rogg.

Carol put a hand up to his face and turned it to face her. “I don’t like this any more than you. But it’s important.”

“I know,” he said, nodding slightly. Then, as if the words slipped from his mouth without his permission, he quickly added, “I love you.”

Her chest felt tight as her heart pounded and she blushed. His eyes were wide and she could see he hadn’t intended such a declaration at this moment, but it had happened all the same. “I love you too,” she answered before she even knew she was going to do so.

Thor leaned down and kissed her, and her heart felt like it caught in her throat. The kiss was full of passion and tenderness and she never wanted it to stop. But they were standing in a Kree battle station, and reality intruded as an announcement blared over the speakers in the room. Carol pulled away, running a hand through her short hair. She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself.

“I’ll be here, if you need me,” he said, his hand resting on her arm.

Carol nodded, then turned toward the door. She stopped with her hand on the handle and looked back toward him. “Be good, ok?”

Thor grinned. “I’m always good.”

Stepping out of the door, she closed it behind her. She took another deep breath and walked the short distance down the hall to Yon-rogg’s office. She paused outside, then pulled the communicator out of her ear. She knew Thor wouldn’t be able to hear her converstation, and that was for the best. Without knocking, she opened the door and stepped inside.

He looked up from the document he was working on, the shock evident on his face even as he tried to hide it. “Vers.”

Carol shoved down the revulsion of being called that name again, after all these years. “Yon,” she replied. The nickname was verboten for anyone but her to use; it would go a ways to convince him she was really here and not being simmed. She knew it wouldn’t be enough, though.

“What’s your first memory?” he asked.

She raised an eyebrow at him. “What, these old questions? Do you mean my actual first memory, or the one you gave me?”

“We didn’t take your memories, the blast did,” he retorted. “Who’s blood is flowing through your veins?”

“Mine?” she answered coyly, then added, “and yours.” She swallowed as a wave of nausea washed over her at the thought. She hated seeing that bright blue blood coming out of her, and was glad it was a rare occurance.

He appeared satisfied at this answer, standing up and walking out from behind the desk. “What a surprise to get a visit after all these years. How have you been?”  
  
“Oh, you know,” she said casually, “I get by. You seem to be doing well.”  
  
Yon-rogg grinned, and the malevolence behind it made her stomach turn. “Well the Intelligence knows not to waste a talent such as my own. I have command of this station, but you probably already know that.”

Carol shrugged with as much nonchalance as she could muster. “I had heard.”

“You know, I’ve heard about the strangest occurances lately,” he said.

“Oh?”

“An officer with your description interrogated some of our men on Torfa.” He was carefully _not_ looking at her, but she knew he could read her reaction all the same. “And then a woman with long dark hair wearing _that_ star stole an Accuser prison ship. Quite unusual, don’t you agree?”

“Very. I should like to meet her,” Carol answered. Of course he would be keeping tabs on her. Of course he would know what she had been up to. That he was entertaining her this long meant one thing.

He chuckled at her answer. “Vers, Vers, Vers. It’s been a long time.”

“Why do you think I’m here? I’ve missed you, Yon.” She made her gambit. Either he would take the bait, or she’d be blowing a hole in this station before too long.

“Is that so?” he replied, looking at her again. “You’ll have to forgive me but the way we left things makes me a bit… suspicious. It’s been what? Thirty years? And you show up on the figurative eve of my invasion of C–53. Your homeworld.”

Carol summoned as much coldness and disdain as she could. “I heard about the invasion, and yes, it’s why I’m here. But it’s not what you think.” Yon-rogg just gave her a questioning look. “C–53 changed a lot while I was gone. There’s so much squabbling and infighting. Arguing over nothing and destroying their planet. Like children. I have come to see how it would… _benefit_ from Kree rule.” She nearly choked on the words, but managed to get them out.

“Well, that’s a first,” he said, appearing impressed. “And you’re here to help with this, I take it?”

“I prefer this to be as bloodless as possible,” she answered. That, at least, was the truth.

“Of course you do,” he said patronizingly. “Tell that to your new friends. The Avengers. We’ve heard of their exploits.”

She shook her head. “There are no more Avengers. They’re dead. Old. Retired. You won’t find any resistance.” She thought of the people she had met on her short time on Earth after the battle. She had given Strange and T’Challa communicators, just in case, but she knew they could handle themselves. If she did her job right here, they wouldn’t have to.

“So long as you are on our side, that is,” Yon-rogg mused as he paced the room. “I expect you were hoping to get something out of this? Perhaps the governorship of C–53?”

“I can’t say it didn't crossed my mind,” she said. It most definitely had not.

“I’m afraid the Intelligence has already promised that position to me,” he told her, halting his pacing. “But of course I am free to choose whoever I want to rule by my side.”

Another wave of nausea washed over her and she swallowed hard, hoping he wouldn’t see her trepidition. “And who would that be?” she asked with forced indifference.

Abruptly, he walked over to her and grabbed her shoulder. “You, Vers. Rule with me. With you at your full power—”

 _No thanks to you_ , she thought.

“—we would be unstoppable,” he finished, staring at her with a wild look in his eyes. Then he masked it again, regarding her with calculated coolness. “Of course… I just can’t get that thought out of my mind. That you mean to _betray_ us,” he accused, his face close to hers. “I’m afraid I require some _proof_.”

“What kind of proof?” she breathed, unable to stop her heart from racing.

Both of his hands held her shoulders now and she had fight to keep herself from recoiling involuntarily. There was that wild look again, the look that said he could and would do anything. It was a look she was intimately familiar with. “Kiss me,” he whispered.

Carol’s heart was pounding in her ears and she felt lightheaded. To this point Thor had watched them just talking, not knowing what they had said, but there was no way she could hide this. Yon-rogg was looking at her expectantly, and she knew there was no going back. She leaned in slightly, and he closed the gap between them. He kissed her violently, dominating her with his lips as he used to all those years ago. Back then she had thought it was just his passion. God, she was stupid. It was as much as she could do to force herself to kiss him back, but she wasn’t sure he would notice anyway. She could feel the bile rising in her throat as his tongue forced it’s way into her mouth. Then she felt his teeth on her lips and he bit down, hard. She gasped as she pulled away, but as he grinned at her, blue blood on his lips, she somehow managed to force a smile onto her face. He was pushing her, testing to see if she would snap and reveal herself. If she wavered now, all was lost. _Sell it_. She licked her bottom lip slowly, tasting the metallic tang of her own blood.

“That wasn’t very nice,” she scolded playfully.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and smirked. “I got carried away,” he replied with a shrug.

She had never wanted to punch someone in the face more than she did at that moment. “So do we have a deal?” she forced herself to say.

“I, and my station, are at your disposal,” he said, though she knew he didn’t really mean it. There was a 0% chance that he would let her lead any ops, even if she was on their side. “Make yourself comortable.”

“I will,” Carol replied. She turned toward the door and had to keep herself from sprinting towards it. Instead, she put some extra swing in her hips as she walked, knowing he was watching her leave. She immediately hated herself for doing it. All for the mission. All for the mission.

When his door was closed securely behind her, she let her pace pick up as she hurried back toward the monitoring post where she knew Thor was waiting. She paused outside the room, wondering what she would find inside. She held her hand out toward the door knob and jumped as a bolt of electricity arced out to her fingers. She steeled herself; what she found was not going to be pleasant.

Thor was leaning heavily on the small desk in front of the monitors, his back to the door. Something electrical popped in front of him and she looked to see the monitor that had previously shown Yon-rogg’s office had been smashed in. He didn’t turn to face her.

“How much did you see?” she asked quietly. The air in the room was heavy, and it felt hard to breathe.

“Enough.” His voice was dark but even, carefully controlled. “You turned off your comms.”

Guilt surged through her, but she knew it had been the right choice. “You didn’t want to hear that.” He was still facing away from her and she wondered if this was it, if he was so angry that he didn’t want to see her. Could he look at her the same way again, after watching that? She had warned him, but she knew it wasn’t enough.

Thor pushed off the desk and turned to look at her. He didn’t look angry, just… sad. It was almost worse than she was expecting. Anger, she could understand. Anger, she could deal with. Now she felt like a monster. She was still standing just inside the door, and he walked over to her. Slowly, he raised a hand to her face, cupping her chin. At his touch her heart felt like it skipped a beat.

“Your lip,” he said quietly, his thumb hovering over the wound. “Did he…?”

So he hadn’t seen that part. She gave a small nod, then unexpectedly felt tears burning in her eyes. He was looking at her with such caring and compassion. She didn’t deserve it. Hadn’t he just seen what she did? She squeezed her eyes shut. His hand still cradled her chin and after a moment she felt a cloth wiping gently at her lower lip. She opened her eyes and saw he had somewhere gotten a handkerchief, which was now stained with blue blood. Tearing her gaze away from the cloth she forced herself to look into his eyes. There was so much love in them her heart felt like it could burst.

Slowly, gently, he gave her the softest kiss imaginable. She wanted more, but her lip throbbed painfully. “Thor, I…” she whispered. She turned away and squeezed her eyes shut again. “I don’t deserve this.”

“What?” he breathed. Though she had pulled away from him he hadn’t let her go. Now he had wrapped his arms around her from behind, and it felt so right she had to choke back a sob. What was happening to her? She didn’t cry.

“I don’t deserve you. Any of this. You saw what I did…” she managed to say, shaking her head.

She felt Thor’s lips on the top of her head as he held her tighter. “Stop,” he said gently. “He’s getting into your head again. Of course you deserve this.” His arms released slightly and he turned her to face him. “Hey, look at me.”

She did as he asked, but she almost had to look away again. How could he look at her like that when she had just hurt him?

“I’m not upset about what you did. You did what you had to. I’m upset about what he did to you. About what Fury asked you to do. Does he even really know?”

Carol shook her head. “No. Not really.” She had never let on the extent of her relationship with Yon-rogg. After she had finally broken free from him it seemed irrelevant. Apparently she was mistaken.

Thor wrapped her in his arms again, holding her close. “Maybe we should abort. This is too much.”

“NO,” she said, more forcefully than she intended. She would be damned if she did all that for nothing. She pulled away slightly, shaking her head. “No, I can do it. I have to do it.”

He stared at her for a moment, as if trying to read how sure she was. Nodding, he pulled her to him again and kissed her forehead. “Ok. But you have to let me help.”  
  
Carol couldn’t help but smirk at that. “Are you sure you won’t kill him?”

She felt Thor sigh. “I won’t. At least not until we have the information we need. Then I can’t make any promises.”

A laugh bubbled out of her, even though she could tell he wasn’t joking. “Ok. Tomorrow I’ll introduce you. And try not to make it so obvious?”

“What?”

“That you… love me.” She had hesitated on the word _love._ It felt so weird, saying that, even though he had said it himself.

He smiled at that. “I’ll do my best.”


	22. Chapter 22

As far as they could tell, there were only four soldiers stationed at the outpost. It appeared to be a shipping waypoint and was mostly filled with boxes. This conveniently made for lots of hidings spots; four of them crouched behind one crate marked ‘Hazardous’. They could see the others across the room, and their scanners told them that the four Kree were clustered together not far away.

“Ok, Remember, like we discussed. On my count, me and Rocket are going to come down the center aisle,” Quill said quietly into the comms. “Nebula and Gamora will swing left, Drax and Mantis, you go right. Everyone got it?”

“I don’t know why we gotta even sneak up on them, there’s only four guys,” Rocket snarked.

Quill rolled his eyes. “We don’t know if they’re armed, or what kinda weapons they got. Just— do it, ok?”

“All right, all right. So count already.”

“Ok, on three. One…”

Movement in the back of the room caught Gamora’s eye. A small robotic device hovered over the boxes, turning this way and that, almost as if it was looking for something. She could see a long needle on the front, so it was clearly some kind of weapon. Everyone else was facing in the other direction, ready to go, oblivious to the danger. She watched, wondering what it was doing. If it had a heat sensor or a camera, surely it would be attacking. It must be… _movement_. The answer clicked into her mind as Quill said the last number. He rocked forward before she could stop him, moving to stand. The weapon jerked in his direction then shot toward him. Time seemed to slow down.

She lept sideways, not in the direction she was supposed to be going, causing Quill to hiss her name over the comms. The device twitched toward her in the air, finding a new target after Quill had stopped in surprise at her actions.

“What the—?” she heard Rocket say.

She didn’t know what they were doing. She couldn’t afford to break her concentration. Fast as she was, it was faster, and it gained steadily on her. She knew she couldn’t dodge it, but letting it hit her wasn’t an option. The sounds of fighting echoed across the compound and she turned, sweeping back toward the area where the soldiers had been gathered.

“Get to the side! Stay still!” she yelled over the comms, breathing heavily. She turned the corner and saw a Kree soldier standing directly in front of her, a large gun in his hands. He aimed at her and she dove toward his feet, pulling him down towards the floor. A mechanical _whirr_ zipped over her head before it went silent as it embedded itself on the soldier above her. She felt him go completely limp and he crashed down on top of her.

She must have lost consciousness for a minute because the next thing she knew Quill was kneeling over her, hands on her shoulders, desperately shouting her name. Other faces formed a circle over his, various expressions of confusion and worry on them. Gamora put a hand on one of Quill’s and pulled it away, sitting up as she did. He was staring at her, his face a mask of worry and joy that she wasn’t dead. She wished he would stop.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she protested, interrupting his unintelligible rambling. “Is he dead?”  
  
“Very,” Nebula replied. “It was instantaneous.”

Gamora looked around the area and saw that the remaining three soldiers were bound. Having determined that she was alive, Rocket had begun ripping open boxes. Occasionally a maniacal giggle would erupt from him when he found something particularly good.

“Why’d you do that? You coulda been killed!” Quill scolded, anguish apparent in his voice.

She shook her head, trying to clear it. Maybe the impact had scrambled her more than she thought. “What? What do you mean?”

Before he could respond, Nebula turned on the Kree soldiers. “What was that thing?” she demanded.

“It’s a hunter-seeker. Part of our defense system,” one of them replied after a moment.

Rocket popped his head out of a box. “All of your outposts have them?”

The soldiers hesitated, looking at each other. Nebula took a step closer and leaned in. “Answer the question,” she snarled.

“Y–yes,” another confirmed.

“How come you aren’t dead?” Drax asked. The soldiers were clearly confused.

“What he means,” Nebula clarified, “is how come it doesn’t attack you? You move about the outpost.”

The Kree were being taciturn again, so Nebula kicked one savagely. Still, no answers were forthcoming. With a smirk on her face, she unsheathed a knife and pressed it to the kicked soldier’s neck. The point dug in and blue blood beaded up on his skin.

“C’mon, the chip!” another hissed. 

Nebula raised her eyebrows and followed his line of sight to a small button pinned to the chest of the soldier she was threatening. Withdrawing the knife, she wiped the tip on the soldier’s suit and plucked off the button. Eyeing it, she turned back to look at the dead man.

“He lost it in the fight,” one of the soldiers said. “Your friend got lucky.”

Nebula walked over to her sister and held out a hand. Gamora regarded it for a second, thinking about all those times where there roles had been reversed. She grabbed it and pulled herself up, leaving a confused Quill kneeling on the ground still gaping like a fish.

“We better find it,” Gamora said. “We’ll have four. We can pick up more at the next one.”

“Next one?!” the third soldier yelped.

Nebula glared at him. “No more talking.”

As the others began looking around the small room Quill scrambled to his feet. Gamora was trying to ignore him, but he was making it difficult. “You’re not looking for the chip,” she said finally.

“You heard him! You coulda been killed,” he repeated, staring at her with giant puppy-dog eyes.

She wheeled on him. “I wasn’t. Everything worked out. The end.”

“Why would you do that?” he asked, undeterred by her fury. Clearly, he wasn’t going to let this go.

At first she didn’t know what to tell him. Why _had_ she taken that risk? The moments before she had moved flashed in her head: Quill, oblivious to the danger; the hunter-seeker, keyed in on his movement. “It was going after you,” she answered quietly, not meeting his eyes.

“Found it!” Mantis cried suddenly. She was standing next to the soldiers, one of the buttons in her hand.

“That one was still attached him,” Nebula told her, eyes rolling. “Try again.”  
  
“Oh,” Mantis replied as she held the button close to her chest.

Gamora was disappointed that Quill had apparently not been distracted by the interruption. She looked away and crossed her arms in front of her. “I would have done it for anyone. Ok? It’s over. Forget about it.”

She turned and walked to the other end of the small room under the pretense of looking for the chip. This time he didn’t follow her. Her eyes scanned the ground but she wasn’t really looking.It was true, she would have done it for any of them. Well maybe not exactly that. It would have been safer to throw something, probably. She’d acted on pure impulse, something she usually avoided. She shook her head, trying to chase out thoughts about what that meant.

Abruptly Nebula bent down in front of her and stood up again, the small button in her hand. “You seem distracted,” she said, smirking. Not waiting for a response, she walked back toward the others. “All right everyone, wrap it up. The outposts aren’t going to destroy themselves.”

****

The battle station was quite large and very well equipped. Carol had taken the opportunity to get a better sense of just how many resources they were pouring into this invasion; it turns out quite a few. She insisted that Thor come with her, knowing that in his Starforce uniform the others wouldn’t give him a second glance. Her, on the other hand… several young Kree not fully schooled in tact goggled openly at her. She had become a tale the Kree told their children to keep them in line, she knew, and here she was, walking among them.

“They look at you like they’ve seen a ghost,” Thor said quietly to her as they passed another one.

Carol smirked and shrugged. “To them, I am. Most of these new recruits weren’t even born when I destroyed several Accuser ships and liberated Mar-Vell’s lab.”

They walked in silence for a while, taking in the layout of the region they were investigating. More bombs. Seeing all this made her realize that S.W.O.R.D. didn’t really know the extent of the Kree plans. All the more important, then, that her mission be successful.

“What’s next?” he asked as they came to the end of a hallway.

“I’d say that way,” Carol replied, nodding to her right.

Thor shook his head. “No, I mean what’s next in this plan? We’re in, why can’t we just destroy the ship and kidnap the asshole?” He practically growled the last phrase, his disgust evident.  
  
Carol couldn’t help but smile at him. “More honey than vinegar, yeah?”  
  
“What?” he said, confused.

“It’s a Midgardian saying. ‘You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.’”

Thor furrowed his brow. “Why would anyone want to catch flies?”

“It’s just— you know what, never mind,” Carol replied with a laugh. “What I’m saying is that we might get more information out of him if we play along.”

He grunted his acknowledgement, but she knew he hated this plan. Hell, she hated it more than he could ever imagine. She sighed and looked down the hall, wondering just how she was actually going to get Yon-Rogg to give up the kind of information she wanted. Well, one step at a time.

“Making friends, are we?” a voice said behind them. It was all she could do not to jump a mile.

“Yon,” she breathed. “I didn’t hear you coming down the hall.”

Yon-Rogg grinned. “Like back in the old days, yeah? Always lost in your own world.”

She resisted the urge to tell him it was because she had been abducted from her own world. Instead, she smiled tightly, hoping it was enough.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around,” Yon-Rogg said, pivoting to Thor.

“You know everyone on this station, do you?” Carol interjected sarcastically, twisting her mouth into a smirk.

Yon-Rogg gave a short laugh and looked at her. “I think I would have noticed him. When’s the last time you saw a Starforce officer built like that?”

“Maybe that’s how you’re doing it these days. How would I know?” she shrugged.  
  
“How indeed,” he said, and Carol wondered if she had made a mistake. But he seemed unperturbed. “You seem to know more about this fellow than I do. Care to introduce us?

She hesitated for a split second, but knew she couldn’t afford more. “I ran into him while I was touring the station. He’s a new Starforce graduate. This is… Oh-Din. Oh-Din, this is the commander of the station, Yon-Rogg.”

“A pleasure to meet you, sir,” Thor said, giving a small salute. Carol watched him out of the corner of her eye and marveled at his composure. A few minutes ago he was ready to tear Yon-Rogg’s head off.

“I didn’t get any notice of a new recruits joining us,” Yon-Rogg said suspiciously.

Thor glanced at her, and she wished that he hadn’t. “Oh,” he replied eventually, “I was originally assigned to the station in the Vega system, but there was a mix-up with the paperwork. Another officer arrived just before me, so they sent me here. Said you could probably use the help.”  
  
Yon-Rogg stared at him for a minute, as if not convinced by this story. “Well that is true,” he said at last. “You can report to Att-Lass in the morning.”

“Att-Lass is still alive?” Carol said quickly, unable to stop herself. Att-Lass had actually been nice to her, unlike most of the others, but that still didn’t mean she was looking forward to a reunion.  
  
Yon-Rogg turned toward her with a wicked smile. “Indeed. It was a near thing, but, well, you know how good we are at saving people. I’d say he’ll be happy to see you, but he won’t. He doesn’t know you like I do, though.”

“I’m glad to hear that he survived,” she replied, ignoring his last comment. He stared at her, as if expecting her to say more, but she didn’t take the bait.

“I haven’t managed to find the sleeping quarters, _sir,_ ” Thor said, cutting through the rapidly building tension.

At first Yon-Rogg didn’t respond, and Carol wondered if somehow they had given themselves away. But then he turned. “Oh-Din, was it? Yes, if you’re staying here you’ll need a bunk. Fifth level. Talk to the steward there and he’ll find one for you.”

“I’ll go with you,” Carol said brightly, grateful for the change in topic. “I’ll need one of those as well.”

“Don’t be silly. You’ll stay with me. My bed is much more comfortable than the bunks.”

A wave of nausea, familiar by now, washed over her. This was a complication that she had not considered. Her lip throbbed again, reminding her of their earlier encounter. Yon-Rogg was looking at her expectantly, but at least he wasn’t looking at Thor. Fists clenched, a look of bloody murder on his face: Thor was not hiding how he felt about this. Goosebumps covered her as she felt the air grow charged.

“Right, of course,” she managed. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

The look of glee on Yon-Rogg’s face sent an icy chill down her spine. He was clearly enjoying this. Had they been made? Where they walking into a trap? Nothing seemed impossible, but she couldn’t take the chance. Even if he did know she wasn’t here in good faith, maybe she could still get the information out of him.

“My, this hallway is starting to seem claustrophobic,” Yon-Rogg said eventually. “Come, I’ll show you to our quarters.”

She took a step towards him and he grabbed her arm as if he thought she might bolt. _C’mon Danvers_ , she thought, _give him a reason to trust you_. Fighting back the nausea, she stepped closer to him and smiled. “Lead the way.”

She didn’t look back; she couldn’t. Really, she didn’t need to. She could picture Thor’s face perfectly, full of fury and pain. He said he wasn’t upset with her, that couldn’t possibly still be true. The question was, would he ever forgive her?


	23. Chapter 23

The man behind the counter was taller than Thor and far thinner. His skin seemed to drape across the bones of his face, making already prominent cheekbones stand out in sharp relief. He wore a simple grey uniform with no insignia on it save for a small star-shaped lapel pin. When Thor approached the desk he looked up, his face expressionless.

“Room 15, Bunk D,” he said, then looked back down at his notes.

Thor looked around briefly, then back at the steward. “Excuse me?”  
  
“Your bed,” he said as if speaking to a small child. “Room 15, Bunk D.”

“How did you—?”  
  
The steward sighed. “The commander told me you were coming. Now do you insist on taking up more of my time, or are we through?”

Thor furrowed his brow and shook his head, but the steward was already looking down again, not waiting for an answer. He walked past the desk—and could have sworn the steward glanced at him out of the corner of his eye—and toward the hall containing the general rooms. At room 15 he paused, wondering what he would find inside. He cracked the door open and saw the lights were off, so he switched them on.

“Ow, damn, some of us are trying to sleep, man,” a woman said from a top bunk pulling a pillow over her face.

Thor quickly switched the light off. “Oh, sorry. I’ve just been assigned this room?”

“I have a night cycle shift,” she said, her voice muffled through the pillow. “So you try to avoid waking me, and I’ll avoid waking you, yeah?”

“That sounds like a wise arrangement,” he replied, backing through the door. “I apologize for the disruption.”

Briefly, he wondered what he should do with himself. Carol had not resurfaced after she had left with Yon-Rogg—he was trying not to think about that encounter, seeing that it made him want to punch a hole in the wall—and he had no assignments until the next morning. Absently he reached up and touched the small camera embedded in his suit; he could do some scouting on the excuse of getting to know the ship and take photos to send to Fury later.

He had only gotten through about half the ship before he was interrupted. He was standing in one of the docking areas, taking in the vast variety of war craft present.

“I haven’t seen you around before,” a voice said behind him.

Thor jumped despite himself, turning rapidly toward the intruder. “Who, me?”

A woman stood in the door frame he had come through earlier, leaning on the jamb and smirking. She wore a Starforce suit with a three-pointed star on it, half obscured by the long, pale blonde hair tumbling over her shoulder. It contrast strikingly with her blue skin.

He smiled, trying to act normally. “Oh, yeah. I’m newly deployed to the station. Sorry, you surprised me.”

“Not doing anything you shouldn’t?”

Thor’s heart shipped a beat, but there was a grin on her face. He laughed, hopefully not too nervously. “Ha, w–what would I be doing here that’s against the rules?”  
  
She shrugged, still grinning. “Nothing. I like to look at the ships, too. You gotta name?”  
  
“Oh-Din,” he replied, taking a step toward her.

Cocking an eyebrow, she asked, “Like the King of Asgard?”

“Oh, yeah,” Thor laughed nervously. “My parents were kind of Asgardian buffs. You… you know about Odin?”

“I was stationed near Asgard before this.”  
  
He struggled to contain his surprise. Never once had Odin told him that there were Kree on their doorstep. He wondered if his father had even known. What in Hel had they been planning? “There was a Kree station near Asgard?”

“Yeah, it was kind of a boring gig. No battles, just watching. But then…” she trailed off, waving her hand.

He figured that feigning ignorance was probably the best tack here. “What?” he asked with forced casualness.

“Well, Odin apparently died. We didn’t even know it happened, but suddenly there was some power struggle between his evil daughter and good-for-nothing son. She was winning, as far as we could tell, but he blew the whole place up just to keep it from her. Kinda the ultimate ‘if I can’t have it no one can.’ There are probably no Asgardians left now, anyway.”

Thor stared at her, a lump in his throat threatening to choke him. Having the memories of that day, of all of his failures, thrown back at him in such a light was not something he ever expected. Was this really his legacy? What the universe thought of him? He fought back a wave of nausea. “Ah–h, wow. That’s something,” he managed.

Fortunately she seemed to have not noticed his distress. “Yeah. But really it’s good for us because the Asgardians kinda had a thing for C–53. Liked to protect it or something. Now there’s one less thing we have to worry about.”

“What about the son?”

“He fell off our radar not long after.” She shrugged. “Maybe he’s dead too.”

This surprised Thor, as it wasn’t as if he had been keeping his identity a secret as he traveled with the Guardians. It’s true that when they had crossed paths with the Kree recently he’d been undercover, but he would have thought that the intergalactic scuttlebutt would have alerted the Kree to his survival. In any case, he had to steer this conversation somewhere else.“That’s great,” he said without conviction. “So, where are you from?”  
  
“Hala. Not many Starforce that aren’t, right? You are, right?”

“Right, of course. I meant… what part of the city?” Carol had briefed him on Hala and it’s geography, and they had given him a credible backstory for a Starforce agent. Still, it would be easy to say the wrong thing.

She nodded. “District 4. You?”  
  
“District 9,” he answered readily.

“Oooh, posh. I guess I’m not surprised.” The way that she was looking him up and down made him uncomfortable.  
  
The mild annoyance he was feeling was probably an appropriate response. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Rhea shook her head, and replied, “Nothing. Sorry, I should know better. It doesn’t matter where we came from, we’re Starforce now.” The last part was parroted back in a particular way that made it clear that it was something drilled into them during training. Apparently he had stumbled upon another tricky conversation. “You busy?” she asked.

“N–no,” he stammered, not sure what he was getting himself into. How could he say he was busy, though, when he clearly wasn’t?

“Good. I can show you the training rooms,” she said, looking pleased. “Unless you’ve already seen them?”

Thor shook his head. “No,” he could say truthfully. “I’d love to see them.”

“They’re not far. C’mon.” Rhea nodded with her head behind her, and turned.

Thor followed down the hall, trying to keep his mind focused on what he was doing—anything but Carol, and anything but Asgard. When Carol had improvised that name he had been surprised, but he didn’t think it would affect him this much. Of course, she probably never thought that any of the Kree would recognize it. Asgard was very far from their empire.

The woman in front of him practically skipped as she entered the main training hall. She turned back toward him, grinning broadly. “Here it is!”

Her grin was infectious, and he couldn’t help but smile back. “Wow,” he said, looking around. “Nice.”

It _was_ a nice room. He could see state of the art training programs and automated sparring bots along with traditional bags and targets. Several ranges lined one wall, clearly for projectile weapons. Then there were the guns; they lined a whole wall, and a small door next to them indicated the shooting range was behind it.

“What’s your favorite weapon?” she asked excitedly.

“Oh, I—uh—usually fight with a hammer. Or an axe.”

Rhea raised her eyebrows in surprised. “Getting in on that Ronan vibe, eh?”

“I was fighting with a hammer long before Ronan,” Thor scoffed. Of course at this moment he couldn’t remember how old he was supposed to be. “What about you?”

“Oh it’s so hard to choose. I love my gun, of course. But I get a kick out of fighting with a holo-sword,” she replied, waxing rhapsodical. Thor didn’t ask about the holo-sword. It was probably something he’d be familiar with if he was really Kree, and really Starforce. “I’m pretty good with the throwing knives, too. Wanna try the range?”

At this point, what he wanted was to get out of this conversation and go be alone somewhere. It was constantly a test, and it was exhausting. But begging off seemed out of the question. He nodded hesitantly. “Sure,” he agreed.

She skipped off toward one of the ranges, clearly delighted to be showing off the toys, and he followed her. From seemingly out of nowhere she produced a trio of small knives. Grinning at him, she turned toward the target. Her face took on a look of concentration, tongue sticking out slightly between her lips. She let the knives fly in rapid succession, creating a tight grouping just above the bullseye. The grin on her face oozed confidence as she looked at him, hoping for a reaction.

Thor gave an impressed nod and added, “Nice grouping.”  
  
She sauntered down to the end of the range, plucked her knives out of the board with one deft motion, and hurried back to where he stood. “Your turn,” she said, holding out the knives.

Thor took them hesitantly, unsure if this was a wise idea. He hefted one, judging its weight and balance. Rhea was looking at him expectantly. Surely there was no harm in throwing a few knives? He’d take it easy… With a gentle flick of his wrist he sent a knife flying down the range. It hit the wooden board in the bullseye with a loud _thock_ , the force behind it causing a crack to propagate upward. He winced. That was certainly not intended.

“Ah… sorry?” he said sheepishly.

Rhea’s eyes were wide. She stared at him for a moment then went running down the range toward the target. Reluctantly, he followed her. When he got to the target he saw that the knife had embedded itself to the hilt.

“You didn’t have to show off that hard,” she teased, looking between him and the knife. She tugged on it but it didn’t budge.

“I–I wasn’t trying— I mean, I didn’t mean to hit it that hard,” he stammered.

She raised an eyebrow. “If that’s you not trying, I don’t wanna know what it looks like when you are.”  
  
_No, no you don’t,_ he thought, running a hand through his hair. He grabbed the knife and pulled it out of the wood easily. It did nothing to dispel her amazement. Turning away from her, he walked back down the range and set the knives to the side carefully.

Rhea had followed, and now she took the knives and slotted them back into their spots. When she turned around to face him again, she was holding a set of small throwing axes. “I guess these are more your style, huh? Wanna try one?”  
  
“Mine is bigger than those,” he replied, then realized the innuendo in the statement. He felt his face get hot.

“I’d like to see that,” she replied in a husky voice, and his blush deepened.

“I—uh—no, I think I’m done throwing things today,” he mumbled, not looking at her.

“Well you can teach me then,” she said. Without waiting for a reply she turned toward the target. She pulled her arm back, holding the axe lightly at the head.

Thor did not want to get roped into this, but watching her poor form was killing him. “No, no,” he told her, “you have to hold it lower.”

She looked at him with interest, then shifted her grip down to the bottom of the hand. This time she threw it quickly, before he could correct her. The axe wobbled through the air and ricocheted harmlessly off the target with a thud.

“Not that far,” he explained when she looked back at him with a furrowed brow. “You have to find the right balance.”

Taking the axe between her index finger and thumb, she suspended in the air. It wobbled here and there, never quite finding a stable point. She huffed in frustration.

“Look, I’ll show you,” Thor said, walking over to her. He took the hand holding the axe and flattened it out, then laid the handle of the axe on it. After a few adjustments it held steady. “Now grip it, but not too tightly,” he instructed.

Rhea grinned at him in a slightly predatory way, and he tried to ignore her. Turning back toward the target, she pulled her arm back. Her body was all out of alignment, though; she was never going to throw it right that way. Without thinking, he stepped behind her and grabbed the wrist holding the axe, stretching it further backwards. With his other hand he took her other shoulder and positioned it properly. When he felt her lean backwards slightly into his arms he knew this was a mistake.

He stepped back quickly. “So, uh, now you throw.”

She slung the axe down the range and it stuck in the board with a satisfying thump. Apparently oblivious to his discomfort—or maybe pleased by it—she turned and grinned at him broadly, bouncing slightly. “That’s fun!”

Thor watched as she successfully threw the remaining axes, then went to gather them and return them to their container. She was still beaming proudly as she walked over to him. “You hungry?” she asked. “I could show you the mess hall. It’s just about time for the evening meal.”

“I’d love to, but I better get going. I… need to meet someone,” he answered, casting about for an excuse to leave. He resisted the urge to look down at the small short-distance communicator that was built into the arm of his suit. Fury had said they were undetectable, and anyway they only had an “on” or “off.” If Carol wanted to meet, she could turn it on and he would have felt the small buzz. She had not.

Rhea was undeterred. “Who?”

“Um… Att-Lass. Yon-Rogg told me to report to him tomorrow, but I thought that I should introduce myself before.”

“Oh, well then you can come to dinner. Att-Lass will be there, eating with the rest of the Starforce crew, as usual. You can meet them all!” She was practically bubbling.

Now he was caught, with no real way out. Eating with all of Starforce was the last thing he should be doing, but it was exactly what he was about to do. “Great,” he managed, trying to look pleased.

“By the way, don’t let him catch you calling him that,” she said as they walked down the hall.

“Who?”  
  
“The Commander. No one uses his name except the highest ranking officers.”

Thor glanced at her, noting that she was dead serious. He wondered what she would think of Carol calling him Yon. She’d probably be scandalized. He pressed his lips together and looked at the floor, fighting back a smile. “I’ll try to remember that.”


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP Daniel Johnston. Your music inspired this work, and so many more.

The first thing she had done when he had left her alone in his room—complaining about obligations and promising her he would be back that evening—was to open every unlocked drawer. Then, she zapped the electronic locks on the others and looked in them as well. Behind one previously-locked cabinet she found a computer terminal. When she turned it on a small box appeared on the screen, asking for a passcode. That was it. No biometric scans or complex authentication, just an eight-numeral code. She thought for a second. Dates were the obvious answer here, in Kree calendar format of course. The date of his graduation from the Starforce academy, which he had always made them celebrate, was a bust, as was his own birthday. Neither did the date he was promoted to captain. If it was the day he got command of this station, she’d be out of luck. The a thought came into her head that she didn’t want to acknowledge. Slowly, she typed in the date that he had found her, half dead on a beach. Surely Yon-Rogg wouldn’t be that sentimental after all this time…

Her stomach lurched as the computer unlocked. For a moment she sat their, no believing what had just happened, but then she pushed the thought away and focused on the computer. There were some interesting files, to be sure, and she made a mental note to copy them later. Unfortunately, but perhaps expectedly, there was nothing about the location of the mainframe of the Supreme Intelligence. She knew that the huge temple-like building on Hala was just for show; the Kree would never keep something that important in plain sight, no matter how arrogant they were. Maybe there was no single location, and it was a widespread network. Still, she had to find out.

The room thoroughly searched, she considered her next moves. Continuing her inspection of the station was the obvious move, though serious espionage would have to wait until the night cycle when there were far fewer people awake. She idly tapped the small short-range communicator on her forearm, resisting the urge to signal Thor. It was so tempting, but she knew it would be a mistake. Running into him once in a day was innocent; being seen together again would start to look suspicious.

And so she roamed the ship, taking in the locations and contents of various rooms. At one point she even caught sight of Thor as she peeked into the mess hall. She was surprised to see him at a table full of Starforce members. What they were talking about she couldn’t guess, but he seemed fairly at ease. It was a relief, seeing that he was doing well and that he hadn’t been thrown in the brig.

One of the other things Carol had done with her free time that day was to come up with a Plan. Not a plan to find the Supreme Intelligence, or a plan to thwart the invasion. This plan hit more close to home. She had thought through all the variables and was sure it would work. Yon-Rogg had told her that he would have a meeting until 22:00, and from her walk around the station today she knew it would take him only a few minutes to return to the room.

Now it was 22:02, and she stood in front of Yon-Rogg’s bar, staring at the liquor in it. It had been a long time since she’d had Kree whiskey. She poured herself a few fingers and tossed it back, trying to numb herself. She was wearing, to her great discomfort, a negligee that he had given her many years ago. It had been stuffed in the back of one of his drawers—an unlocked one—along with an old t-shirt of hers. It had been shocking to find it, but doing so helped solidify the plan.

The door knob rattled slightly and Yon-Rogg walked in, looking down at something in his hands. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he looked up and stopped dead in his tracks.He appeared to have been struck speechless, which was gratifying.

“That was in a drawer,” he said eventually.

Carol was still staring at the liquor, as if she hadn’t noticed his arrival. “It wasn’t locked,” she said with a shrug. “I thought we could celebrate tonight.”

“What are we celebrating?”

“What do you think?” she replied, looking at him with an eyebrow cocked.

He grinned that predatory grin of his. Once, before she had seen it for what it was, she had thought it was sexy. Now it sent ice down her spine. “Whatever you want,” he answered.

“Drink?” she asked, looking back down two tumblers already in front of her, whiskey bottle in her hand.

He didn’t answer. Instead he peeled off his jacked and walked up behind her. His hand slid along the thin fabric as he pulled her against him and leaned his head down to kiss her neck. “Don’t mind if I do,” he mumbled, his breath hot on her skin.

She pulled away slightly, although less than she would like to. “Why don’t you go get… ready, and I’ll pour the drinks.”

He followed her gaze over to the bed. Even without seeing him she could sense that wolfish grin on his face. It worked, though, and he released her. She could hear zippers and clothes rustling as he got undressed, but she focused on the amber liquid in front of her. After she had poured a healthy amount in each glass, she carefully emptied the content of a small vial into one of them. Screwing her face into a smile, she turned toward the bed, glasses in hand.

Carol handed him the drugged glass and he drank it in one gulp, as she knew he would. She tossed hers back as well, focusing on the burn of the liquor inside of her instead of the naked man in the bed. She took a steadying breath, then crawled onto the empty side of the bed. He reached out to her and she allowed herself to be pulled into a kiss. Fighting back the waves of nausea, she laid a hand on his side and moved it slowly across his skin. As slow as her own movements were, his were near frantic. His hands groped rapidly over her body, never lingering in any one place too long. One was pulling up the hem of the negligee, eager to rid her of it.

“Oh Yon, I need you,” she made herself say as he kissed his way across her collarbone. In her head, she counted down: t _hree, two, one_ …

Quite suddenly, he was out. She pulled away from him and wiped the back of her hand against her mouth in an ineffectual attempt to wipe the taste of him away. She stared at his unconcious form in disgust for a moment, then began to set the scene. Grabbing the whiskey again she took a large swig directly from the bottle, then set in on the beside table next to his glass. One thing she had not considered was the difficulty of pulling the sheets out from under him—he seemed twice as heavy as normal—but she managed. She pulled at them from various angles and left them in disarray on top of him. Finally she pulled the negligee over her head and tossed it to the side against the wall.

Her tank top and pants lay where she had left them, and she surveyed her staged scene as she pulled them on. It certainly _looked_ like two people had gotten busy here. She hoped what he remembered would be convincing. Turning away, she walked to the door. There was indeed someone she did need tonight, and it was certainly not the man laying in the bed behind her.

****

It had taken Thor a while to fall asleep in the strange bunk bed, surrounded by enemies, so when he was startled awake a few hours later by a hand covering his mouth, his first reaction was more annoyance than anything else. He had been moments away from reaching out to throttle whoever it was before he came out of the haze of sleep and realized it was Carol.

He furrowed his brow, but she didn’t release her hand right away. Instead she pursed her lips and put one finger to them. He didn’t really need to be reminded that there were eight Kree in the room and that waking them up would be a bad idea. She withdrew her hand and moved toward the door. Carefully, he got out of the bunk and followed her, not stopping to put on shoes. When he had quietly closed the door to the room he turned to look her.

“What is it?” he whispered. “Is something…”

Apparently even that was too much, because she hushed him again. “Not here,” she hissed. She looked quickly up and down the hall, and, seeing no one, she moved silently down it. He realized she was also not wearing shoes and wondered what had happened to prompt this. Then he remembered how he had left Carol before. White hot rage momentarily blinded him, but he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. She could take care of herself. She wouldn’t let _him_ do anything. Right?

By the time they slipped into a seemingly random room his mind was filled with all sorts of terrible images. He heard the door shut behind them and rounded on her. “What happened?” he demanded. “Are you…”

She didn’t let him finish. Without a word she pushed him against a wall and kissed him fiercely. Sleep still clung to the corners of his mind, and it was a moment he could process what was happening and respond. She didn’t seem to notice. She had already shrugged out of her jacket and slipped her hands under his shirt, which she proceeded to slide up toward his shoulders. Breathing heavily, she broke away from the kiss only long enough to force the shirt over his head and peel her tank top off as well.

“Carol, wait… mmph,” His protest was cut off by her lips on his again, and by her hand reaching down to grab him through his pants. It wasn’t that he didn’t want her—as his body was readily attesting, he wanted her quite a bit—but this did not seem like the best time or place.

There was no arguing with her, though. She pushed into him, grabbing one of his hands and placing it on her bare breast. His other slid around her waist. Then she pulled her body away from his slightly and reached down to fumble with the tie on his pants. Before he knew it she had gotten them free and pushed them over his hips. She took him in her hand and he inhaled sharply at the sensation.

This time when she disengaged from the kiss he didn’t try to speak—he wasn’t sure he could have. She pushed him backwards and he realized there was a pile of training mats on the ground. So she had chosen this storage room for a reason. He sat down on the top one as she pushed her own pants off. Not wasting any time, she climbed on top of him and both of them gasped as he entered her. They began rocking rapidly and he felt himself being pushed quickly toward the edge. He bit his lip as she rode him, trying to hold back, but all the hurrying seemed to be carrying over. Then he felt her muscles clench and her back arched. She moaned in pleasure, and he let himself go.

Breathing heavily, he flopped backward on to the mat, still not quite sure what had just happened. She was still lying half on top of him, her head resting on his chest. He reached up with on hand and smoothed her hair slightly, looking down at her. The look on her face as she looked up at him was full of love and happiness. He couldn’t help but smile back.

“Hey,” he said quitely after a while. “Is everything ok?”

She nodded against his chest. “It is now. Sorry if I was in a rush.”

In response he kissed the top of her head and held her more tightly. “It’s fine. Anything you need.” She didn’t offer any explanation, and though he didn’t need one he wasn’t convinced she was ok. Eventually he asked, “Did anything happen? Did he…?” He couldn’t bring hemself to finish the sentence. He hated bringing it up at such a time, but he couldn’t help it. He had to know.

“No,” she said, understanding his meaning. “I drugged him.”

Thor looked down at her in surprise and could see a smirk on her face even though she wasn’t looking at him. “Won’t he… suspect something?”

She shook her head slightly. “No, he’ll think he drank too much and passed out. It wouldn’t be the first time. You should know,” she paused, and his heart dropped into his stomach. “He’ll think we had sex. But nothing happened, I promise.”

He squeezed her tightly, relief flooding through him. She looked up at him, and he could swear he almost saw tears in her eyes. “I trust you,” he said quietly, “always.” He kissed her gently, cupping her face in his hand. A tear hit his thumb and he wiped it away, holding her even tighter.

She settled back down against his chest and he felt her warm breath on his skin. “How was your day?” she asked, and he smiled at the attempt at some normal conversation that any couple might have.

“Fine,” he shrugged. “I did some recon around the ship.”

“Same. I saw you eating with Starforce.”

“I got roped into it,” he explained with a sigh.

“I figured. Who’s the girl?”

Even though he had done nothing wrong, Thor felt his heart rate increase. He wondered if she noticed it. “What girl?” he tried to ask casually.

She smirked against his chest. “The one who clearly has the hots for you.”

“Ah,” he said. How did she always know everything? “That girl. Rhea. She found me looking at the ships and appointed herself my personal tour guide. But she’ll just have to be disappointed, because I would never…”

“Thor,” she interrupted, looking up at him again. “I trust you. Always.”

He smiled down at her. At that moment he loved her so much he felt like his heart might burst.

“Maybe you should, acutally,” she said after a minute.

He furrowed his brow in confusion. “What?”

“Respond positively to her advances. Flirt,” she said casually, as if she were suggesting that he take up a new sport.

Thor was horrified. “Why would I do that?! No, I can’t…” The idea of flirting with someone else…

“ _Oh-Din_ isn’t involved with anyone,” she said forcefully, interrupting his protests. “Don’t you think it would be suspicious if the most beautiful girl on the station pursued him and he rebuffed her?”

The sound logic did not make the idea any less repellant. He stared at her as if waiting for her to change her mind. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” she replied definitively. “Remember? I trust you. I know nothing will _actually_ happen.”

“She’s not the most beautiful girl on the station,” he said in response.

They lay for a while longer in each others arms, not wanting the moment to end. Then he felt her shiver against him, and it brought him back to reality. They were laying on floor mats in a cold storage room with no clothes on.

“If only we had a blanket,” she said.

He sighed. “Probably we should get back before anyone misses us.”

“He won’t be awake for a few more hours,” she protested, though not with conviction. If anyone found out their relationship, not just Yon-Rogg, it would be diastrous.

“C’mon,” he said, pushing himself up to a sitting position and pulling her with him.

Reluctantly she stood up, hugging her arms against her naked chest against the chill of the air. Thor found his discarded pants quickly, though it was a bit longer before he found the shirt where she had flung it across the room. By the time he did she was already dressed and standing near the door.

“We should leave separately,” she suggested. “Just to be safe.”

He nodded as he walked up to her. Wrapping her in his arms, he gave her another long kiss. Who knows how long it would be before they would get this chance again?


	25. Chapter 25

“We should talk about what happened back there.”

The statement was unexpected for several reasons. First of all, Nebula was standing across the room and fiddling with her robotic arm, seemingly ignoring Gamora as she faced away from her. Second, talking things over was not the kind of thing that Nebula typically did. Or at least it wasn’t the kind of thing she used to do. Gamora had to remind herself that Nebula had changed in more ways than just not wanting to kill her all the time.

“What do you mean?” Gamora asked in reply, not really wanting to have this discussion. They stood in the small kitchen of the loaner ship they had gotten from S.W.O.R.D., but Gamora was pretty sure Nebula was not there for food. For her part, Gamora was opening nearly every cabinet in the damned place, trying to find something to eat. After running from the hunter-seeker, she was feeling drained.

Nebula turned halfway to look at her out of the corner of her eye. “You know what I mean.”

“If you’re talking about what I did with the hunter-seeker, I’d say I saved you all,” Gamora replied cooly.

“You know as well as I that there were better ways of dealing with that thing than throwing yourself in front of it. You acted rashly, without thinking.”

The accusation stung. Gamora didn’t want to admit it, but there was truth there. She had acted _emotionally_ , which is not a word she would have ever used to describe herself. “I did what I had to do,” she replied defensively. “There wasn’t time.”

“There was plenty of time. I wonder,” Nebula mused, facing away again, “if you would have acted so impulsively if it had been going for anyone else.”  
  
“The others were further away…”

Nebula interrupted her before she could make more excuses. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

“Why don’t you just say what you mean, then, instead of playing at this game,” Gamora snapped, slamming a cabinet shut and crossing her arms in front of her.

Nebula turned all the way around this time, one eyebrow raised, and Gamora wished she could take back what she had just said. “You have feelings for Peter,” Nebula said directly. It wasn’t a question.

“I have no feelings but friendship for Peter,” Gamora protested, but without conviction.

Nebula was looking at her like she was dumb, which never failed to irritate her. “Today? The hub? You kissed him, Gamora.”

“We already talked about this, that was a mistake,” Gamora huffed, turning back to look in the cabinets. She was still hungry, but she stared blankly into them, not really looking at the food inside.

“How many mistakes is it going to take? You are falling for him,” Nebula stated. _Why_ did she have to be so sure about eveything, when Gamora herself was not? When Gamora didn’t confirm or deny this statement, Nebula prompted, “It’s true, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know!” Gamora growled through gritted teeth, burying her face in her hands. Unbidden, Peter’s face materialized in her mind. Those puppy dog eyes were smiling at her, his grin twisted into half a smug smirk. She didn’t know if she wanted to punch or kiss it off of him. With a noise of frustration she pulled her hands away and opened her eyes. She still couldn’t bring herself to look at Nebula, though. “Maybe,” she said quietly afer a while.

“Love doesn’t make you weak, Gamora.”

“I know that,” Gamora replied, still defensive. It was a lie, though. Thanos had taught her that love made you weak, drilled it into her. Romance was for the conquered, not the conquerers, a silly distraction. She had never seen anything to convince her otherwise, not until she joined this crew.

Nebula shook her head. “I don’t think so. Not yet. You will.”

Gamora didn’t respond to that. _Couldn’t_ respond to that. Couldn’t imagine her outlook on life changing so much from just a year ago, even considering how much it had already changed.

“Look,” Nebula said, intruding into her thoughts. “I’m not saying you have to go jump into his arms right now. Actually, the thought makes me ill. But if you keep denying your emotions they will come out to rule you at the most inopportune times.”

Nebula waited for a moment and then, when it became clear that Gamora had no response to this, left her to consider this statement. The idea that she should admit that she had feelings for Peter was horrifying. _If_ she had feelings, and _if_ it were common knowledge, those feelings could be used against her. How did that not weaken her? She couldn’t understand. At the same time, she could see her actions colored by these feelings she wasn’t going to admit. On the Kree hub, when she had taken off without a plan to save him; just this day, when she laid her life down for him. What _was_ it about him that inspired such acts? Maybe if she could figure it out, she could combat it better.

****

Not long after she had the conversation with Nebula, something changed. It was only in the smallest of ways, but Peter’s attitude toward her was different. Ever since the hub—ever since the kiss—he had treated her with caution, like a rare animal he was afraid of spooking. Perhaps he had been. He never made his love for her a secret, but he seemed more reserved, and occasionally she would catch him looking at her sadly.

She had first noticed the change after their most recent raid. It had gone smoothly, thanks to the chips they all now wore to deflect the hunter-seekers. This outpost was bigger, with more Kree stationed there and more day-to-day luxuries. Clearly they had been living there for quite a while. While they were looting the Kree tech, Quill had happened across a bar of something he called chocolate. She had never seen him look that ecstatic; apparently it was from Terra, and he recognized it from his childhood. So she had been doubly surprised when he had tried to gift it to her. She had refused, of course—clearly it meant a lot more to him than it ever would to her—but later she found half of it laying on her pillow with a simple note:

_Try it. I promise you’ll love it._

She had considered returning it, but in the end she had tried a small bite first. It had been unimaginably delicious. It actually elicited a feeling of guilt; once, as a child, she had found a similarly delicious item after one of Thanos’s re-balancings. When he caught her eating it, had had punished her severely, saying that hedonism like that was how these people got into trouble in the first place. She had to remind herself that he was dead, and that enjoying your food wasn’t forbidden.

The chocolate had only been the start. If they were in a market and she expressed an appreciation for an item, he would buy it for her. Never when she was around, of course, because she would never have allowed it, but later she would find it on her bed. He started cooking more and more elaborate meals for them, saving the choicest bits for Gamora. Once they overnighted on a spaceport to refuel and resupply, and he had taken her out to dinner. When she had protested and asked where the others were, he said they had all backed out at the last minute. She was highly suspicious of this story, but the dinner had been exquisite.

“He’s _wooing_ me,” she said to Nebula in an accusatory tone. They were alone in the area that they had set up as a training room on the new ship and Gamora was currently taking out her frustrations on an unsuspecting target bag.

“Is that really a surprise?” Nebula asked between punches of her own bag.

“Yes,” she replied, grunting. “Before he was respecting the boundaries of friendship.”

“And he is not now?”  
  
Gamora kicked the bag viciously and exhaled heavily. “He’s pushing them. Like he knows something.” She stared at Nebula suspiciously.

“Why would I tell him anything?” Nebula countered, not stopping her punches.

“Because you want us to be together for some unknown reason? Because you wnat me to admit my feelings? Because you just want to mess with me? I don’t know!” Gamora replied, exhasperated.

Nebula paused now and look at her sister. “And you dislike what he’s doing? If so, I could tell him to stop if you’d rather not.”

“No,” Gamora sighed. “It’s… nice. But that’s not the point.”

“And the point is?”

“Did you tell him about our converstation?!” Gamora demanded.

Nebula looked at her for a moment, then slowly walked to grab a towel. “Hypothetically, let’s say I did. Purely hypothetically.”

Gamora rolled her eyes. Some things never did change. “Fine,” she said through gritted teeth.

“And now he’s doing all these nice things for you.”  
  
“He’s _wooing_ me!” she repeated.

“That is your interpretation.”  
  
“ARGH, NEBULA!”

Nebula was unfazed. “I’m just saying, if I hypothetically told him that you hypothetically had feelings for him, and he hypothetically began wooing you, would it hypothetically be a bad thing?”

“What?” Gamora had gotten so turned around by the hypotheticals in that sentence she no longer knew what Nebula had actually said.

By this point Nebula was as the door to the training area, clearly intent on leaving. “Enjoy it. You can thank me later.”

It was pretty much the most frustrating thing Nebula could have said at that point. Clearly she had talked to Quill. Why she thought was a good idea, Gamora couldn’t guess. She felt like she should be furious at her sister, but she couldn’t summon the outrage. That in and of itself was alarming; did she want this, deep down? Did Nebula _know_ that she would? The idea that other people would know what she want was a now familiar one, but still disturbing at times… and this was certainly one of those times.


	26. Chapter 26

“This seat taken?” Thor asked, standing next to an empty chair. It was late for lunch but he’d been held up at his last assignment, so he was surprised to see Rhea sitting alone at a table in the mess hall. He thought of Carol’s suggestion that he flirt with her. Well, it might make sense, but he didn’t think he could do it anyway. Being friendly he could do, and that was almost as good, right?

Rhea looked up at him and grinned broadly, clearly happy to see him. “I’d say I was saving it for you, but there’s not really a high demand right now.” She gestured around the nearly empty room.

“Late lunch today for you too?” he asked, sitting down next to her.

“Eh, this is normal for me. I have a shift right before this that always goes long. What’s your excuse?”

“They had us moving a ship across the hangar,” he explained. “Don’t they have machines for these things?” He rolled his eyes dramatically, causing Rhea to giggle.

“They do that to all the newbies,” she replied. “Like as not you’ll be moving it back tomorrow.”

Thor sighed and took a bite of his food. It was about what you would expect, mostly bland and tasteless. He was sure it was optimally engineered to provide precise nutrients but zero enjoyment. Rhea’s plate was mostly empty with only a few bits of food left on it, so clearly she’d been here a little while. “I’m not keeping you, am I?” he asked between bites, gesturing to the plate.

“You can keep me any time you like,” she leered as she leaned in toward him, grinning wolfishly.

He laughed uncomfortably and stared at his plate, trying to fight back the heat he felt rising in his face. In that moment she reminded him of Ilora, the siren that they had rescued what seemed like ages ago, and he wondered if Rhea had any sirens in her bloodline.

“You probably get this a lot,” she said, leaning back in her chair and watching him shrewdly.

“W–what?” He was sure he didn’t like where this converstation was going.

“You’re like the hottest guy in this whole galaxy, and probably the next one too”—this statement caused Thor to nearly choke on his food—“I’m sure women are always throwing themselves at you. I want you to know that _I_ don’t just want you for your body.” She had such a shit-eating grin on her face, like she was daring him.

This was really not the way he expected this conversation to go when he sat down here. He supposed that his plan of _not_ flirting was off the table now. “Thanks, I guess,” he replied. And now it was time to sell it. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

If Thor thought her grin couldn’t get any wider, he was mistaken. What was that analogy from the human game…? Oh yes, a home run. He focused his attention on his food, not wanting to push this too quickly. Rhea, for her part, seemed to happy to say anything. After a while he ventured, “you hardly know me, though.”

“That’s easily fixed,” she answered eagerly, not deterred. “Did you always want to be Starforce?”

Too late he realized that having her grilling him with questions might not be the best alternative conversation. It was starting out easily, at least; he and Carol had worked out why he was old for a recent graduate“Yeah,” he answered, “but my parents didn’t want me to. I worked for my father until he… passed on.” That last bit was still difficult to stay, even after all these years. At first he had wanted his fake parents to be alive, but Carol argued that his reactions would be more genuine the closer to the truth they stayed.

“Sorry,” Rhea said genuinely. “What did he do?”

“He was the head of a mining corporation”—these were a dime a dozen, according to Carol—“he loved gold more than anything.”

She looked impressed. “Wow, so I guess you’re loaded, huh?”

Thor smiled sadly at the idea. “Not really. After he died my estranged sister that I never knew existed showed up and destroyed everything he built. There’s not much left.”

Rhea gave a low whistle and shook her head. “I take back everything I’ve ever said about wanting to be rich.”

“What did your father do?” he asked, ready to steer the conversation away from his family.

“Oh, my dad just did whatever he could. He was good at working hard. Mostly he built things. His pride was that he helped build the current housing for the Supreme Intelligence,” she said casually, playing with the food left on her plate.

Thor tried to contain his shock. What were the odds? It seemed almost too good to be true. He considered his next words carefully, not wanting to draw any suspicion. “So where is it housed, anyway? I’ve always been curious.”

“Well it’s top secret,” she replied, giving him a bemused look. He should have known that.

“Right, of course, everyone knows _that_ ,” Thor said with a laugh. “But c’mon. Your father never told you anything?”  
  
“I never said that,” Rhea said cagily. A small smile played on her lips; clearly, she was playing with him, but she didn’t know the stakes.

“Ah-ha, so you have top secret clearance, then?” he teased.

She shook her head, smiling. “My dad could never keep anything from me. He even took me there, before it was finished.”

“And you’ll never tell anyone?” Thor was practically holding his breath. Getting this information from her would mean stopping the invasion right away. It meant stopping the Kree for good. Most importantly, it meant Carol wouldn’t be in Yon-Rogg’s grasp any longer.

The expression on her face was almost devious. “I might, if properly motivated.”

“How would one go about motivating you?” _Please oh please, let it be something simple,_ he thought.

She stood up abruptly, and his heart sank. Was she leaving? Did he blow it? But she was still smiling. “I haven’t decided yet. But I’ll know it when I see it.”

Thor watched as she turned and walked away. This was terrible. What was he supposed to do now? He put his head in his hands, thinking. What would motivate a woman to give up her people’s most sacred secret? He needed to talk to Carol.

****

The man in front of her was clearly not Starforce. He was short and squat, with a double chin and a tremor in his left hand. How he got to be one of Yon-Rogg’s highest lieutenants she could only guess; in this case, she suspected that he was one of the Supreme Intelligence’s toadies, send to watch over the commander and ensure that he didn’t do anything to jeopardize this invasion.

This suspicion was reinforced by the fact that he was currently grilling her, though it was couched as friendly curiosity. She knew when her loyalty was being tested.

“So when was the last time you visited C-53?” he asked with a forced casualness that wasn’t casual at all.

Carol smiled benignly, careful not to let on that she knew his true purpose. “It’s been almost a year.”

“Ah yes,” the man said, “you were involved in the battle there. I suppose we should be thanking you for restoring our lost people.”  
  
_You should be thanking Bruce Banner, and Tony Stark_ , she thought bitterly. The Kree only had the manpower for this invasion because they got back their half, just as everyone else did. Invading the very people that saved them. She wanted to pound him into the ground. Instead she smiled and shrugged. “It was nothing. Thanos wasn’t all that.”

The small man laughed and it sent a chill down her spine. She had underestimated him, which was the point. Everyone did, so he learned what he needed from them and used it to destroy them.

“You are quite something, Ms… Marvel, is it?”

“It’s Captain, actually,” she replied pleasantly, refusing to let him get a rise out of her. “But you can call me Vers.”

His smile was carefully practiced to be as inoffensive as possible, but she could see the evil lurking behind it. “Vers,” he repeated. “It has been a pleasure chatting with you.”

“And you as well,” she replied with a slight nod of her head.

“Well I must get going, lots to do,” he said, patting his jacket like he was looking for something. He pulled out a small device and looked at it briefly, then returned it to his pocket. “They just work poor little me to death.”

_I’m sure_ , she thought as she watched him toddle off. More like he worked everyone else to death. This conversation had been illuminating, at least; she had learned that Yon-Rogg was nothing (as if she hadn’t known that before), merely the face of the operation. He probably didn’t even know where the Supreme Intelligence was. This man? He was the one that was truly running the show.

The short term communicator on her forearm vibrated once, so faint that she could barely detect it. Thor needed to talk. She reached down on the pretense of adjusting her suit and triggered the small button that would send a vibration back to him.

She was unsure of how much of the station was covered in cameras; she’d gotten a decent idea from the monitoring station that her and Thor had taken over when they first arrived. For the most part, only the major corridors, gathering spaces, and sensitive areas appeared to be wired. Still, she couldn’t be too careful. Yawning dramatically, she wandered back to Yon-Rogg’s room, ostensibly to sleep. There was a back door into a small corridor that led directly to the training area, and that’s where she headed now.

The training room was nearly empty when she entered. One person jogged on a treadmill and another was boxing a hanging bag in the corner. Walking over to the wall of guns, she chose a large one and looked at it approvingly. She realized with a start that it was of the model that Minn-erva had favored. Uneasily, she put it back on the rack. The last thing she needed right now was more reminders from her past. Instead she chose a large handgun and pulled the door to the shooting range open.

It was far quieter than any shooting range on Earth, as the Kree weapons didn’t make use of gunpowder. Still, it was loud enough that any conversations didn’t make it beyond arm’s length, which is why she had chosen it for a meeting point.

She took her place in one of the booths and sited down the range. She had blasted through one energy pack before he showed up in the booth next to her. Thor looked somewhat uncomfortable with the gun, and she abruptly wondered if he had ever fired one. Guns were certainly not his style. To be fair, guns were not her style either. Who needed a firearm when you had photon blasts and lightning? She watched out of the corner of her eye as he raised it and fired a few times half-heartedly.

“What did you need to talk about?” she asked, her voice faint under the sound of the guns.

“I have some good news,” he replied, squeezing off a couple more rounds. She waited expectantly for him to continue. “Rhea knows where the Supreme Intelligence is housed.”

Carol nearly dropped her gun in surprise. This was completely unexpected. How did the girl who wanted to jump Thor’s bones have this kind of information? “What? How?” she hissed.

“Her father worked as a laborer on the build.”

She sensed this was not the whole story. He looked uncomfortable, and not as happy as someone possessing such knowledge should be. “So, where is it?”  
  
“She won’t tell me,” he replied miserably, squeezing a couple more shots off. “She says she needs to be ‘motivated’.”

Carol looked down the range again, a feeling of dread in her stomach. Sure, she had told him that he should flirt with her. But flirting was as far as she thought it would go. It was clear he didn’t know what Rhea wanted from him, but Carol had a good idea. What else what does a woman like that want from a man she is attracted to?

“What do you think she wants?” he asked when she didn’t respond. “Money? I already told her I don’t have anything anymore.”

She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. Why were men so oblivious sometimes? “You,” she said simply.“She wants you, Thor.”

“What?!” he yelled, too loudly even in the gun range, turning toward her.

“You’re here to shoot guns,” she reminded him, and he turned back to his lane, shooting the target savagely.

“What do you mean she wants me?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“You know what I mean. You need to convince her that _you_ want _her_.”

She saw him shaking his head out of the corner of her eye. “I can’t do this, Carol.”

“You have to,” she said forcefully with more confidence than she felt. “This is too important. Let’s hope a kiss is enough.” The last sentence she said under her breath and was sure he didn’t hear her over the sounds of gunfire. She trusted him not to go too far, but that didn’t mean she could stop the images of him with another woman from playing in her mind.

Thor stopped firing and turned toward the door. She could see his shoulders wound tight in frustration. At this moment she would give anything to touch him, kiss him, comfort him. Instead she fired her gun some more as he walked out of the range and into the arms of another woman.


	27. Chapter 27

The Guardians had been excited about their visit to this planet, and most of them had taken off as soon as they were docked. Gamora had never been here before, but she’d heard about it: amazing restaurants, luxury shopping, glittering casinos. She wondered if they would leave with less money than they’d be earning by selling off the Kree tech they had gathered from their raids. The chance to buy something nice was tempting, as it didn’t come by often, but Gamora was planning to hold on tightly to her figurative purse-strings all the same.

She was wondering if she should go try to find a cheap meal when Quill appeared in the common area. He surprised her, partly because she hadn’t realized he was still on board, and partly because he was dressed rather smartly. Instead of his usual gear he wore a crisp collared jacket with a tight black t-shirt under it and a pair of grey slacks. She wondered where he had gotten these items, because she had certainly never seen them before.

“Hey Gamora,” he said, smiling broadly. “What—uh—are you up to?” He fidgeted slightly, and she realized he was nervous.

She looked at him suspiciously. “Nothing,” she said truthfully. “You are dressed up.” It came out more of a statement than a question, and for a moment he didn’t respond.

“Uh—yeah,” he replied eventually, running a hand through his hair and not looking at her. “I was thinking… maybe I could show you around? You haven’t been to this planet before, right?”

“I haven’t,” she said guardedly. She didn’t want to agree to anything right away; usually he wasn’t so antsy about inviting her to dinner. Why was today different?

He fiddled with a button of his jacket. “You hungry? We could get dinner?”

“Just the two of us,” she replied, stating the obvious. No one else was around, and she knew he had planned it that way. He was looking at her expectantly, the fervent hope that she’d say yes written across his face. She looked him up and down obviously, then crossed her arms in front of her. “I hope you weren’t planning on going somewhere fancy because I don’t have any clothes that nice.”

Gamora could tell he was trying to play it cool but the joy on his face couldn’t be contained. She hadn’t even said yes, not really. “You could pick out something here, on our way!” he suggested eagerly. “I know a great place, it’s not too expensive.”

The idea of buying herself some nice clothes _was_ appealing. Usually she just grabbed whatever was functional, and even then it had been a while. She gave a small nod. “Ok. Let’s go.”

Peter practically skipped off the ship and she fought back a smile. As usual, his enthusiasm was infectious, try as she might to avoid it. He looked at her frequently as they walked as if he was afraid she might change her mind and run off. If she was truthful with herself, it was nice to just go on a walk around the shining city. The Benatar was pretty spacious for a small ship, but it was easy to start feeling claustrophobic after a while with all of the people who lived in it.

He led them to a small shop off the main drag. The moment they entered she was glad he’d chosen this one. They had passed several gigantic stores with racks and racks of clothing visible through the wide windows, and just the thought of choosing something to try on in such an environment was overwhelming. The small shop had far less selection but it was clearly carefully curated. She glanced at Peter and he beamed at her. Clearly he had read her accurately and chosen this for a reason.

Gamora flipped through one of the racks, quickly becoming overwhelmed even with the limited choices. This was a type of clothing she had never purchased before, and she had no idea what to look for. Once again, Peter swooped in to rescue her from the decision as if he’d known.

“This one would look great on you,” he said, holding up a blue shirt with a geometric pattern worked in grey. She touched it gingerly and marveled at the silkiness of the fabric. The idea of owning a shirt like that was incredible to her. “And you can wear it with these,” he continued, and she realized he had a pair of simple black pants in his other hand.

She took the clothes from him and held the shirt up to herself awkwardly, wondering how it would fit.

“You can change in the back, honey,” the shopkeeper said, smiling kindly.

She hestiated. Get undressed here? What if it was a trap? Quill nodded toward the changing room. “Go on. You have to change for dinner.” He looked so pleased, she shoved down her doubts and walked to the back.

When she emerged from the room, Peter let out a low whistle. She could feel the heat rising in her face and looked away from him. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all. But she was in the clothes now, so she might as well go eat. She walked over to the shopkeeper and pulled out a small wallet.

“You look lovely, dear,” the shopkeeper gushed. She gestured to a small screen on the counter. “Your total.”

Gamora had to keep herself from choking at the price. This was far more than she’d ever spent on _clothing_ ; she could get a nice knife for this amount. Quill seemed to sense her hesitation and stepped up next to her.

“I can get this…” he began, but she cut him off.

“No,” she said, more forcefully than she intended. She softened when she saw the look of disappointment on his face. “I can buy my own clothing. You can buy dinner if you’d like.”

“That was always going to happen,” he replied, but he seemed pleased nonetheless.

She paid, trying not to think about the price, and they left the shop. Peter immediately steered them down the street. As she walked she would find herself occasionally feeling the fabric of the shirt, still amazed she owned it.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the restaurant the Peter had chosen was small and cozy, and decidedly romantic. It was also far nicer than anywhere he’d managed to take her before. He held out her chair for her galantly as they were seated at a table in an out-of-the-way corner.

“You had a reservation,” she said as he seated himself.

He looked slightly sheepish. “Yeah, well you have to have one.”

“But what if I hadn’t agreed to come?”

He shrugged and opened the menu. “Guess I woulda been eating by myself. Or maybe I'd take Nebula.” He was looking down at the menu but she could see him smiling.

“She doesn’t have clothing for this,” Gamora said, but she smiled at the idea of Nebula in a place like this.

Predictably, the menu was full of things she’d never even heard of. She stared at it for a while before she let Peter suggest something. When the food came it smelled heavenly, and she was pretty sure she had never tasted anything so good before. They didn’t speak during dinner, but she could tell Peter was watching her, hoping for her approval.

“How did you know about this place?” she asked as their empty plates were cleared.

Peter looked slightly uncomfortable and she wondered what about the question could cause that. “Dey—uh, he’s Xandarian, and we helped him back when we first met—he suggested it to us. It…was your favorite restaurant in this galaxy,” he finished quietly, staring at his napkin.

Without thinking she reached across the small table and put her hand on one of his. He looked up at her in surprise. “It _is_ ,” she said softly, “I know it.”

His mouth curved in a smile, but there was still sadness in his eyes. She wondered if it would ever really go away, but she found herself wanting to make it.

Peter didn’t let her see the bill when it came, but she let him pay for it without protesting, true to her word. There was a slight chill in the air as the stepped out into the street and she hugged herself. The thin shirt was comfortable but did nothing to keep her warm. Unexpectedly she felt a warm weight on her back and realized he’d laid his jacket on her shoulders. She almost protested, but she was grateful for the extra layer.

He didn’t seem bothered by the chill, though she knew he had to feel it in only a t-shirt. Something about the way he was standing told her that the clothes and the dinner were not the end of his plan for the night. He shifted awkwardly, looking like he was about to say something.

“Out with it,” she prompted eventually. She would rather not stand here in the cold any longer.

“It’s just…” he started and paused again. Then he shook his head and seemed to decide to just say whatever it was. “Do you want to go dancing?”  
  
Gamora stared at him for a minute as if she wasn’t sure what he’d just asked. Her? _Dancing?_ The idea was unbelievable. “I don’t dance,” she told him.

To her surprise he just smiled at her. “You don’t dance _now_. It’s fun. You enjoy it, I promise.”

She didn’t know what to make of this assertion. The bizarre thought crossed her mind that she should go and prove to him that she wasn’t a dancer. He would see. In reality, she was curious. She had a distant memory of dancing as a child, and she wondered if she actually _was_ , but it was another thing Thanos had taken from her.

“Fine,” she said eventually. “I will try it _once_.”

The fact that he was clearly fighting back a laugh just made her more determined. She would show him, he didn’t know everything about her.

The club was large with an extensive dance floor and only a few tables scattered around the edges. Lively music was playing and people swirled around each other. As she stood just inside she abruptly realized that somehow she had agreed to show him that she didn’t dance _by dancing_. She didn’t know how he got in her head like that. It was considerably warmer inside, and Peter removed his jacket from her shoulders and left it with a coat check. He was grinning at her broadly, but it did nothing to forstall the anxiety rising within her.

Peter had already started moving toward the dance floor, but he stopped when he realized that she had remained rooted in place. Gently taking her hand, he led her toward the shiny wooden floor.

“I can’t do this,” she protested, stopping at the edge. Everyone would know she was a fraud, and she would embarass herself. She tried to withdraw her hand from his, but it was no good.

He nodded encouragingly and gave her hand a tug. “You can, it’s easy. Look, just one dance, and if you hate it we can leave.”

Gamora took a deep breath and stepped out onto the floor. The music didn’t stop. No one turned to look at her. She relaxed infinitesimally, but then Peter stepped up close to her. She inhaled involuntarily as he slipped an arm around her waist and placed his hand on the small of her back. She could feel it there, hot through the thin fabric of her shirt. He still had one of her hands in his and he lifted them up to hang in the air just outside their shoulders.

“Just follow me,” he said, and before she could respond he began moving around the floor in time to the music.

The tempo was rapid and at first she felt like she was tripping over her own feet and Peter’s as well, but after a time she realized that she was moving fluidly across the floor. In a way, it wasn’t dissimilar to the footwork in fighting. Forward, backward, side-to-side. Pleased that she had mastered the task, she smiled up at Peter, remembering too late she was supposed to be proving to him that she didn’t dance. He beamed back at her, and she was pretty sure she hadn’t seen him this happy ever.

When the song ended she was breathing rapidly, out of breath not from the exertion but because of the thrill of dancing like that. She wondered if they would take a break, or carry through to the next song, and found herself wanting to keep going. Peter showed no signs of slowing down, and they dance to another song, and another. She couldn’t remember the last time she had this much _fun_. It was such a foreign concept.

She was beginning to thing she really could use a drink when the music shifted and a slow song began playing. This was her chance, time to leave his embrace and rehydrate. Surely he’d want a drink as well. Several moments passed, and neither of them pulled away. When she didn’t leave he pulled her close, his body pressing against hers, and she let him. The heat of his body sent a flush of warmth to her face. In this close proximity the scent of him filled her nose, and she realized he’d splashed on some kind of spiced cologne before they’d left the ship that mixed with the musky scent of exertion in a not-unpleasant way.

“This doesn’t seem much like dancing,” Gamora said to break the tension as they slowly rocked with the music.

Peter gave a short, quiet laugh. “People don’t really do this for the dancing.”

“Why do they do it, then?” Gamora asked. Though they were moving slowly she couldn’t seem to catch her breath and she could feel her heart racing.

He looked away briefly, as if he didn’t want to answer the question, but then he replied quietly, “To be close to each other.”

“Oh,” Gamora managed. It was an obvious answer.

She began to wonder how long the song would continue. Surely it must be nearly done? At the same time, she couldn’t bring herself to leave his arms. She found herself transfixed by his gaze as they stared into each other’s eyes. It seemed like they were the only two in the room; like they were the only two in the galaxy. He disentangled his hand from where he’d been holding hers and raised it to her face, his thumb barely grazing the side of her cheek. Her breath caught in her throat and she had to keep herself from leaning into it. Their faces were inching closer together as they swayed, and she found herself turning her face up to his, her lips slightly parted. He got closer and closer, until his lips barely brushed hers.

The communicator on his wrist blared suddenly, causing them both to recoil. She fought back a wave of intense disappointment. He looked at her for a moment, desire nakedly obvious on his face, before he turned his attention to the communicator.

“It’s, uh,” he huffed, breathing heavily, “Fuck, it’s Fury. Shit’s going down with the Kree. They need us.” He stared at her, as if the decision rested on her alone.

“We should go, then,” she said, stating the obvious.

Peter nodded distractedly. “Right, yeah. Let’s find the others.”


	28. Chapter 28

_Two Hours Earlier_

Rhea was sitting by herself in the common lounge in the station, flicking through something on the tablet in front of her. As Thor watched her, he wondered if this plan would work. More importantly, he wondered if he could go through with it. It had been about a week since Rhea had told him about her knowledge of the Supreme Intelligence. He’d been leaning hard on the flirting, and she’d started playing hard to get in the way that made it obvious that she expected him to chase her. It had given a bit of time to come up with a plan. He hoped fervently that it would be successful.

Taking a steadying breath, he walked purposefully over to her and stood over her. When she pretended not to notice him, he cleared his throat.

She looked up, smiling. “Oh, hi Oh-Din. I didn’t know you were there,” she lied. Thor hated these games, but he played along this time.

“Are you free now?” he asked in his most hopeful tone of voice.

Rhea shrugged. “I’m kinda busy.” It was obvious that she was, in fact, not.

“Well if you _were_ free, I might have something for you,” Thor said. He held one hand behind his back, and he could see that this sparked her interest. She leaned over slightly as if to try to catch a glimpse, but her position sitting below him gave her no vantage point.

“Then I’m free,” she replied eagerly, dropping the pretense.

With a flourish Thor withdrew the flowers he’d been holding behind his back. “For you.”

Rhea gasped in delight and her eyes went wide. “Where did you get those?!”

“I have my ways,” he replied cryptically. In reality, Carol had passed them off to him; they were apparently a small part of a large bouquet that Yon-Rogg had given her recently. He couldn’t help but feel that it was deeply ironic that he was using flowers that someone else had given the love of his life to woo another woman.

She jumped off the chair she’d been reclining in and took the flowers from him. She looked from the flowers to him several times, her face full of joy. He felt a pang of guilt about what he was doing. Sure, she was a Kree, and thus the enemy, but she wasn’t a bad person. She had hopes and dreams like most people, and she loved her people. She probably knew nothing but the “Skrulls bad” indoctrination of her youth. But she was a soldier, not an innocent bystander. He reminded himself of the stakes; this was war, and people got hurt.

“Come with me?” he asked, gesturing toward the door.

“There’s _more_?!” she exclaimed, clutching the flowers tightly.

Thor smiled mysteriously at her, and it had the desired effect. She was practically bubbling as she followed him through the station. He had found the perfect place, secluded and difficult to access, but with an amazing view. It was little more than a platform for servicing a part of the station, but it was enough. She was so excited now, he wondered if she might burst when he executed the next part of the plan.

When they reached a narrow ladder he gestured for her to go first, so she climbed somewhat awkwardly with the flowers still in one hand. When he reached the platform, she was already looking all around, gaping at the view. You could see almost 360°, and the sky was full of stars and galaxies.

“How’d you find this place?” she asked, turning slowly in a circle.

Thor grinned and laid the bag he’d been carrying on the ground. “Just happened across it.” It was mostly the truth; on one of his reconnaissance tours he’d seen the ladder and wondered where it had led. He sat down on the ground and patted the floor next to him. “Join me?”

Rhea sat down eagerly, close enough to him that their legs touched. She watched with amazement as he opened the bag and pulled out a small block of cheese, a few fruits, a partial loaf of bread, and his prize, most of a bottle of wine. All passed to him over the course of the week by Carol, who had access to far better food than most on the ship. The soldiers certain didn’t eat anything like this, and the sight of them astounded her.

“Where’d you get these?!” she gasped. This time his only response was a wry grin. “Oh right,” she said, smiling, “your _ways_.”

He set the items out on a small napkin and pulled the cork out of the wine. “Sorry, I don’t have glasses.”

“Not a problem,” she replied, grabbing the bottle out of his hand and taking a large swig.

They ate the meager feast, enjoying the view and chatting idly about the day. Thor took a few sips of the wine but let her drink the majority, and she didn’t seem to notice. After a while, everything was having it’s desired effect. She drained the wine then set the bottle in front of them on the ground and put the flowers in it, then grinned broadly at him. Scooting even closer, she leaned heavily against him and he wrapped one arm around her as she lay against him. If he closed his eyes he could almost pretend that it was Carol in his embrace, but the shape wasn’t quite right and Rhea smelled of flowers. It only served to remind him that Carol never wore perfume.

“I know what you’re doing,” she said after a while.

Thor raised an eyebrow at her even though he knew she couldn’t see it from her position. “And what is that?”  
  
“Trying to get information out of me.” There was a slight slur in her voice, but clearly she still had he wits about her.

Thor wrapped his arm more tightly around her, pulling body against his. “Is it working?” he whispered into her ear.

She looked up at him, a smile playing on her lips. “Maybe,” she said eventually.

She was staring meaningfully into his eyes, her face tipped toward his, and he knew it was his chance. Before he could talk himself out of it he leaned down and kissed her. She responded eagerly, raising a hand to the back of his neck and pulling him closer.

Thor had almost certainly kissed more than a thousand women in his lifetime, but it had never once felt like this. This kiss wasn’t pleasurable, and it wasn’t fun. His stomach felt like lead, and guilt threatened to overwhelm him. She also seemed uninterested in stopping. Instead she rotated slightly in his arms to face him, and before he knew it she’d thrown a leg over his lap and was straddling him. She was kissing him so aggressively that he barely had a chance to get a breath. Then he felt her hands start to rove where they shouldn’t.

“Hey,” he breathed, pulling away finally. “This is amazing, but… maybe we could take it a bit slower?”

She smiled at him and nodded, then leaned in to give him another short kiss. Climbing off his lap, she settled back into her earlier position, looking up at him with a wide smile.

“That was nice,” she said dreamily.

Thor plastered a smile on his face and agreed. “Yeah.”

Rhea stared into the space in front of them, not saying anything for a while. Thor began to wonder if all of his effort was going to be a bust.

“It’s on our moon,” she said without fanfare. It took him a minute to realize what she had said. She looked up at him a smirk on her face. “Curiosity satisfied?”

“Huh,” he said, hiding his elation. “Never woulda guessed.”

They stayed for a while longer. Thor knew he couldn’t push to leave without raising suspicion, so he sat with Rhea in his arms, his leg slowly going to sleep from her body laying against it. They chatted idly; Thor pointed out some stars, impressing her with his knowledge of this galaxy. She talked about missing the stars around Hala, and her openness brought a fresh wave of guilt.

Eventually she sighed and pushed off of him to stand. “We better get back, much as I’d rather not.” She held out her hand to him and he let her help him off the ground. He winced when he put weight on his leg, and she looked concerned. “Are you ok?”

“Leg’s just asleep,” he replied, waving her off. “I’ll be fine in a few minutes. Help me gather the stuff?” He gestured to the remnants of their meal, and she bundled them up into the bag, plucking the flowers out of the bottle.

Descending the ladder was uncomfortable, but he made it down without too much trouble and was only favoring his leg slightly as they made their way down the hall. Rhea was constantly looking up at him and smiling as they walked, clearly completely and utterly smitten. For his part, he tried to remember smile at her frequently as he tried to figure out what to do next. He needed to find Carol.

“Stealing _and_ going AWOL,” a voice said behind them. They both whirled to see Yon-Rogg standing in the hallway, arms crossed in front of him and a dangerous look on his face. For a moment, Thor didn’t know which one of them he was talking to. Then he sauntered slowly over to Thor and stood too close. “Well? What have you to say for yourself, _Oh-Din_ ,” he spat the name.

Thor had to fight the overwhelming urge to punch him in the face. He didn’t really know what to say. He didn’t have any assignments, so how could he be AWOL? The flowers were fairly damning, but Yon-Rogg should have never seen them. What reason would he have to be waiting for them? The feeling of ice grew from his stomach as he realized that Yon-Rogg must have been following him for who knows how long. What had he seen? His recon to places in the station he shouldn’t have been? The kisses he stole from Carol when they thought they were alone?

“He didn’t steal them,” Rhea said from beside him, her vehemence surprising both of the men. But when Yon-Rogg turned his gaze on her she folded. “Sorry, Commander. What I meant was, I’m sure he just found them.”

“This doesn’t concern you,” Yon-Rogg told her, even though she was the one holding the supposedly stolen flowers. He turned to Thor and grabbed his arm in a vise-like grip. “You’re coming with me.”

Thor had no choice but to let himself be hauled down the hallway, still limping slightly.


	29. Chapter 29

When Yon-Rogg burst into the large main hall of the station hauling some poor schmuck, Carol did not expect that schmuck to be Thor. She’d been idly chatting about the weather in Hala with a new Starforce instructor that had just been stationed on the ship and had to keep herself from reacting too strongly. Seeing Yon-Rogg hauling some wayward soldier was a near every day occurance, after all.

“Ooh, that guy’s gonna get it. The Commander looks _pissed,_ ” her companion commented, to which Carol could only half-heartedly agree.

Moments later, Rhea slipped through the doors clutching a rather ragged bundle of flowers. Carol recognized them instantly. So Thor had at least gotten through part of his plan, but she couldn’t figure out how he could have run afoul of Yon-Rogg. He also appeared to be slightly limping, though he wasn’t visibly injured.

Everyone the hall had turned by this point, waiting expectantly. The public airing of an individual’s dirty laundry was such a Yon-Rogg thing to do; he could discipline his underlings privately, but never chose to do so. Said it helped to keep others in line. She rather thought it mostly just made him enemies of the people he punished.

“A Starforce member must always be available at a moment’s notice. You could not be found in your assigned locations, and thus have been away without leave. Furthermore, you are accused of theft,” Yon-Rogg announced, his voice projecting around the room. He didn’t ask for Thor’s defense. He never cared. This wasn’t a trial, it was merely a public flogging.

Thor stood next to him, staring daggers. Carol wished she could tell him to knock it off; no low-ranking Kree would dare to defy their commander like that. Across the room, Rhea looked anxious, and Carol was trying to guess whether her reaction was more severe than might be expected. Had Thor done it? Did he know the location of the Supreme Intelligence?

“I’ve noticed you before and suspected you might be trouble,” Yon-Rogg continued. A wave of nausea hit Carol. Yon-Rogg _noticing_ Thor was bad news. “I think you could do with a visit to the Supreme Intelligence.”

“No!” Carol cried before she even knew she had done so. Everyone in the hall turned toward her in confusion.

“Vers,” Yon-Rogg said, turning toward her. “Is there some reason you object to my decision? I thought you had only just met this man. Am I wrong?” The look on his face said it all. He knew, maybe not everything, but enough. Thor’s demeanor made more sense now; clearly he’d figured out that Yon-Rogg knew enough to be dangerous, and no longer cared. Still, there was no need to volunteer additional information.

“Of course not,” Carol replied with as much indifference as she could muster. “It just seems unecessary for the Supreme Intelligence to be bothered about the crime of not being where you expected him to be.”

“Communing the Supreme Intelligence isn’t a punshiment, in case you’ve forgotten, Vers.”

 _Then why is it always used as one_ , she thought. The events of her last encounter with the Intelligence was burned in her mind. She said nothing, because the risk of saying anything was too great. Instead, she watched helplessly as Yon-Rogg seized Thor’s arm again and dragged him bodily toward the ring of shimmering metallic fluid in the middle of the room.

For a moment, indecision gripped her. There was not much point in letting this happen, as the Intelligence would know right away that he wasn’t a Kree. The op was blown, but at the same time Thor wasn’t fighting back. Either he hadn’t gotten the information they needed, or he didn’t think it Yon-Rogg knew for sure. Of course the most likely option was that he had no idea of what would happen to him. She had just about decided to grab him _and_ the girl and blow this popsicle stand, but then the decision was taken away from her.

Yon-Rogg threw Thor onto the ground on top of the terminal. Without any delay the tendrils of fluid surrounded him, wrapping his limbs and plunging into his skin.

****

Thor suddenly felt hard ground beneath him and he collapsed onto all fours, gasping for breath. He appeared to be on a smooth black surface, and he could just see what looked like a lake of black liquid extending to the horizon, such as it was. Beams of diffuse light hit the ground around him.

He heard a strange metallic sound in front of him; still on his hands and knees, he looked up and his eyes went wide with shock. What he was seeing was… unbelievable. His mother stood in front of him, looking just as she had the day before she died. Just as she had when he’d seen her on the time heist. Well, almost. Her eyes were different—the irises all yellow-green, and full of a cruelty they’d never had.

“M–mother?” he stuttered, barely able to speak. “How…”

“Well, well, what have we here?” his mother said, but in a tone unlike anything he’d ever heard her use before. “You’re not Kree.” The being that was not his mother paused for a moment, as if waiting for him to say something, but Thor was at a loss for words, so the being continued. “Never in a thousand years would I have thought I would have an _Asgardian_ in my system. Because that is what you are, are you not? My clothing gives it away.” She spread her arms and looked down at the dress she was wearing, smirking.

“What kind of sorcery is this?” he growled, finding his voice as he pushed himself to his feet. “You appear as my mother, but you are nothing like her.” His hands clenched at his sides and he pulled himself up to his full, menacing height.

The being just smiled at him, unperturbed. “Not very bright, are you? They told you that you would see the Supreme Intelligence. And here I am.” Thor opened his mouth to speak again, but the Intelligence held up a hand to silence him. “I appear to people as the person they most admire. You _mother_ is a bit trite, is it not? I wouldn’t have taken you for a momma’s boy.” She looked him up and down disdainfully and it sent a chill down his spine.

“Speak of my mother again and I will end you,” he snarled.

To his complete surprise, the Supreme Intelligence laughed. It only served to stoke the white hot rage growing inside of him. “I’d like to see you try,” she replied.

With a roar he lunged forward but the Intelligence made a small gesture and he found himself frozen in place. Then, with a wave of her hand she sent him flying until he stuck in a wall that he hadn’t known was even there.

“Let’s see just who you really are, shall we?” the Intelligence said, smirking, as he felt himself slowly become enveloped.

He was floating in space, seemingly surrounded by fragments of mirrors. In them he saw flashes of his own memories, but played back as if he was an outside observer.

… he burst into the main hall of Asgard just moments after his mother was brutally slain, too late to stop it…

… he was standing on the rainbow bridge, watching Asgard explode as Surtur burst from within its walls…

… bound in pieces of metal, he watched helplessly as Thanos strangled the life out of his brother…

… he stood before Thanos, Stormbreaker buried deep in his chest, and then Thanos snapped…

… his blade cut cleanly through Thanos’s head, but it was useless…

Suddenly gravity seemed to take over again and he fell down, down, and he wondered if he’d ever stop. Abruptly he it the ground, hard, and looked up to see the Supreme Intelligence across the space, still smiling maddingly.

“Well, that was enlightening. The wayward heir to the throne of Asgard. I assume you are here because of my invasion of—what do you call it? Midgard? But I don’t know what would make you think you could stop me, after you have failed at so much else. What would your mother think?”  
  
Slowly, Thor pushed himself up to kneeling and then to standing. His hands curled into tight fists and lightning began arcing over them. He took one step forward, then another. “I told you not to speak of her again,” he said with quiet deadliness.

The look on the Intelligence’s face was something like surprise. She raised her hands and shot out some kind of green plasma-like substance that wrapped around his body in an attempt to bind him. With barely any effort he broke away from it, still walking forward. Lightning began to strike near the Intelligence. She held her ground, but looked increasingly incredulous as to what was happening.

“You think showing me my failures will break me,” he growled as he approached. “As if anything but them played in my head on loop for five long years. The irony is, it was the woman whose form you dare to take who showed me that I am not defined by them.”

He paused and held out his hand. For a moment, nothing happened. The Supreme Intelligence looked at him in confusion. Then there was a loud blast and, seemingly from nowhere, Stormbreaker flew into his grasp. His armor materialized out of the lightning around him, covering the Starforce suit.

Now there was real fear on the Intelligence’s face. Thor began walking forward again, cape flowing behind him. As he neared, his surrounds began to fade and he realized the Intelligence was ejecting him from the system.

“I’m coming for you!” he yelled just before the strange world disappeared around him.

****

Carol could see him struggling as the port for the Supreme Intelligence bound him in a kneeling position. She could practically feel the tendrils invading his skin, remembering all the times she had entered. She wondered what was happening in the Supreme Intelligence’s world. At this point, the only thing keeping her from acting was the fact that no one else knew yet, and of course the bound man in front of her. An outside person couldn’t remove someone from the system, the Intelligence had to let you go. Or, you could break out. It wasn’t an option for many.

She had triggered the alarm on her suit the minute he’d gone in. It was the signal that told Fury that they had been made and that shit was going down _now._ She wondered who would come, and when they would arrive. Two things mattered now: preventing this station from launching any attacks on Earth, and getting Thor out of here. Oh, and get the girl.

Carol looked up at Rhea, who was standing near Thor, a look of concern on her face. No one liked talking to the Supreme Intelligence, and Carol knew that she couldn’t miss the fact that Thor’s converstation was not going smoothly. Carol felt a rush of pity for the Kree girl. Now she’d be taken away from her family and friends, all because she had the misfortune to fall in love with the enemy. But whether she had told Thor her secret or not, she was too valuable and too much of a liability to leave behind. Carol still had hope that they might be able to make her cooperate, but she knew it was a long shot.

A murmur of distress traveled around the room, bringing her attention back to the situation at hand. Thor was struggling to stand, and he was succeeding. The power on the ship began flickering as lightning appeared from nowhere and arced across his body. The Kree watched in confusion as, ever so slowly, he raised one arm and held it out to his side, the system’s tendrils slipping away from the limb as he did.

Suddenly the wall next to them exploded and a rush of escaping air tugged at them. Carol watched as Stormbreaker, which had been safely stored on the S.W.O.R.D. ship still hanging undetected on the underside of the station, spun across the room toward the god who had called it. As unexpected as this development was for her, it was mindblowing to the Kree. She couldn’t resist a small smile as she watched them gaping at the scene. The axe found his hand and Thor burst from the system in a blast of blinding electricity. As the light faded it revealed him in full glory: clad in armor, Stormbreaker in his hand, scowl on his face. His red cape whipped dramatically in the wind of the air rushing out of the hole the axe had made in the hull of the station. Rhea was dumbstruck along with the rest of the gathered Kree, their mouths hanging open at the sight of him.

The display had apparently frozen the Kree in place, and no one moved toward them. All the air had stopped rushing out of the room, so she supposed that somewhere on the station they had sealed the hole in the exterior. She couldn’t help but be pleased to see that Yon-Rogg had been knocked silly by the blast and sat leaning against a wall and clutching his head as others went to assist him. Thor scanned the room, and when he saw Carol the scowl dropped off his face. He smiled as he walked over to her. Setting the handle of Stormbreaker on the ground, he leaned casually on it.

“I feel underdressed,” she quipped, glancing down at his shining armor. God, he was so incredibly handsome in this moment it was all she could do not to grab him and kiss him. This was neither the time nor the place for such things, though.

Thor grinned broadly at her. “It’s about time to get out of those Kree colors, don’t you think?”

Carol couldn’t agree more. She raised her forearm and tapped a couple of times on the panel, causing her suit to revert to its blue, red, and gold colors. Just as she was about to drop her arm a message popped up, sent over her main communicator system. “We’ve got company,” she told Thor. She withdrew two tiny earpieces out of a pocket and handed one to him. “Shall we go welcome our friends?”


	30. Chapter 30

The station appeared surprisingly quiet when they jumped into the system near it. There were no ships deployed, nor any signs of readiness. A small trail of debris floated away from one wall, the only sign of trouble.

“So do we have _any_ idea of what is going on, or are we supposed to just go in guns blazing?” Rocket asked, tapping a few buttons on a display near them.

“Blazing guns is always the best way,” Drax put in. He was already unstrapping his harness and checking his knives.

Gamora watched as Peter shook his head exasperatedly. “As fun as that sounds, we should probably wait a little bit…”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence. In front of them, the doors to one of the landing pads exploded open and two figures flew out of the hole and over to the Benatar.

“That was quick,” Carol said over the comms. As the glow her around faded somewhat Gamora could see that she was smirking. Well, things couldn’t be going too badly.

Apparently Peter had the same thoughts. “Well, Fury said we should get here ASAP. I mean, it kinda looks like you have things under control? ‘Cause you kinda interrupted…”  
  
“What exactly did they interrupt, Quill?” Rocket asked, looking at Peter suspiciously. They had been the last of the team to return to the Benatar, and Gamora’s new clothing had raised more than a few eyebrows. From the look on Nebula’s face Gamora could tell she would be cornered about it later.

“Nothing,” Peter said quickly, “just our time off…”

“What _were_ you and Gamora doing?” Mantis asked, her interest piqued by this line of conversation.

“Guys…” Thor broke in before they could get going. They turned to look at him. “We caught them unawares, but it won’t last for long. There are many high-ranking officers on this ship that would be more useful alive than dead. We need you to help take them captive before they escape.”

Rocket jumped down from his chair, grinning. “Capturing dudes, we can do.”

“There are S.W.O.R.D. files on most of them. I’ve sent them to your computers,” Carol continued. “There’s another person we need, though, a girl. Starforce. Medium height, slim, blue skin, long blonde hair. Ridiculously beautiful. Her name is Rhea.”

Carol had delivered the description with disinterest, but Thor looked unmistakably uncomfortable. Gamora wondered what had happened on the station in the last weeks.

“What’s her story?” Peter asked, looking confused. “Why her?”

Carol glanced at Thor, who said nothing. “She knows things,” she said eventually. “The landing pad we came out of is clear. Thor and I will be preventing escape attempts. Rendezvous here in an hour?”

“Roger that,” Peter said, steering the ship toward the gaping hole in the side of the station.

The Benatar skidded to a halt on the pad and everyone jumped out of their seats, grabbing various weapons. Gamora was loading a rather large gun when Nebula appeared behind her.

“Interrupted,” her sister said, almost aloof, as she picked up several manacles and hooked them to her belt.

Gamora didn’t look at her. Instead she grabbed a few manacles of her own. She didn’t need to play these games. It was none of Nebula’s business. Nebula knew how to push her buttons, though. “I told you, it was nothing,” Gamora said eventually to break the silence, through gritted teeth.

“Doesn’t really seem like it.” Nebula turned without waiting for a response and walked toward the ramp, leaving a flustered Gamora behind.

 _It was nothing,_ Gamora told herself, trying to push the images out of her head. It was no good, though. She could practically feel the heat of his body, the brush of his lips against hers… she shook her head, squeezing her eyes closed. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder and she jumped.

“Sorry!” Peter exclaimed at her reaction, withdrawing his hand like she had burned him. “I just… are you ok?”  
  
“I’m fine,” she replied quietly but firmly, staring at the gun in her hands. “Let’s just get this done?”  
  
Peter was silent a minute and she wondered what was going through his head. “Yeah,” he managed after a bit, his voice sounding weird. It was enough to make her look up at him them, but he’d already turned away.

“Drax and Mantis, you take these three,” Rocket was saying in the common area. Mantis nodded as he sent the files to a small computer that she was holding. “Nebula and Gamora will grab these four. Me and Groot will get the rest.”

“Shouldn’t we all have the info for everyone?” Peter cut in, arms crossed in front of him. He was clearly perturbed, and having Rocket bossing everyone around wasn’t helping. “Who knows who we’ll run into.”

“I grouped ‘em by who they’re most likely to be with,” Rocket replied patronizingly. “It’ll be easier if we focus. But if you’re so worried about it I’ll send ‘em all out.”

Peter was not mollified by this explanation. “Yeah, well you forgot me in your little ‘assignments’.”

“No I didn’t,” Rocket said, grinning wickedly. “You get the girl.”

He was clearly annoyed by this simple assignment, but Peter didn’t say anything. Instead, he walked over to the manacles and grabbed the rest of them, glaring at Rocket all the while. “For when I get all of your guys, too.”  
  
Rocket laughed uproariously, swiping several sets from Peter as he ran out of the ship.

****

Peter’s stormy thoughts followed him around as he moved through the ship. His gun set to a powerful stun, he shot first and asked questions later whenever he encountered any Kree. He actually had found on of the guys that Rocket had claimed, and it had felt so satisfying to send him back to the ship with a hastily scrawled note: _Told you._

He’d find the girl, and he’d find the rest of them as well. At least the constant shooting was doing something to keep his mind of Gamora. Not as much as he would have hoped, though. They’d been so close, he thought he’d broken through the walls she had put up, but now they were as solid as ever. He thought he’d seen a look of concern on her face as he’d headed off on his own, but he was probably imagining things. It had been unbelievable that Gamora had fallen in love with him once, what made him think it would happen again?

His thoughts were brought back to the present when he rounded the corner and surprised a group of Kree running toward him. They were starforce, wearing the same suit that Danvers had, and their masks covered their faces. He blasted one, two… but then the remaining two caught up to him before he could get more shots off. One knocked the gun out of his hand, forcing him into hand-to-hand combat. He pulled a high-powered taser off his belt and immediately zapped one of them, but not before getting socked in the gut by the other, a slender woman who surprised him with her strength. His combatant grabbed the wrist holding the taser and wrenched it around behind him. Peter’s joints screamed in pain and his hand opened. The taser clattered to the ground.

He’d had just about enough of this. He yanked his head backward and felt a satisfying thud as it collided with the Kree’s face. Her grip loosened enough for him to pull his arm out and throw his elbow backward, connecting solidly with her abdomen. Turning, he swept her feet out from under her and she fell backwards. Peter leaned down and grabbed the taser, then moved to stun her.

“Wait!” she gasped, holding up a hand. “I won’t fight you, I promise!”

He hesitated, unsure of whether to trust her. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“You don’t,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “But I am. Look, you can keep the taser and if I’m lying _then_ you can shock me.”

Peter considered this for a moment, then nodded. “Fair.”

The girl relaxed slightly, still clutching her nose, which was bleeding freely. She triggered her helmet and it retracted, letting pale blonde hair spill down over her shoulders.

Peter squinted at her for a moment. She was slim, had the long blonde hair, and Peter figured she’d probably be pretty beautiful if he could see beyond the hand and blood covering her face.

“What?” she asked, noticing his scrutiny.

“I think I’m looking for you,” he replied. “Rhea?”  
  
“Y–yeah.” She looked confused and suspicious, but she still grabbed his hand when he offered it and pulled herself off the ground.

Immediately Peter clapped a manacle on one of her wrists.

“Hey!” she shouted.

“I’ll let you keep the other hand if you promise not to fight,” he said, nodding to her face. She looked like she was going to protest, but then she nodded slightly. Not letting go of the manacled wrist, he fished inside a pocket and withdrew a handkerchief. She took it gingerly, wiping the blood off her face.

“W–why me?” Rhea asked after a bit, clearly attempting to compose herself.

Peter shrugged. “Said you know things. Look, you seem like a nice girl. I don’t know how you got mixed up in this, but I do know that if you cooperate you’ll get off easier. Speaking of which,” he mused, pulling out his holo. “Do you know where these guys might be?”


	31. Chapter 31

There had been a steady stream of ships and escape pods leaving the station, more than only she and Thor could handle alone. They caught a few high profile targets—including the squat bureaucrat she’d talked with before—and destroyed countless craft, but a few still managed to get away. She’d taken out the station’s comms, but with the successful escapees she knew it wouldn’t be long before the Accusers arrived. She hoped the Guardians were almost done.

As if on cue, her comms crackled to life. “Danvers,” Quill said over the sound of gunfire and explosions, “little help?”

“Where are you?”

“Pinned down outside the landing pad. We can’t get through to the ship.”

Quickly, she flew toward the open pad that she had cleared for them earlier. Without hesitating she shot into the station and blasted the Kree from behind, scattering them in all directions. After a few seconds of silence the Guardians popped out from behind partially destroyed walls with a collection of captives in tow. As they ran past her toward the ship she looked at each Kree in turn, taking note of who they had gotten.

“Is this everyone?” she asked as Quill ran up to her.

He tapped a few times at his holo and shook his head. “Nah, apparently no one found this guy.” He turned the device toward her to display the file.

It was what she had feared. Yon-Rogg’s smug face looked back at her from the screen, and she sighed. “You guys have to get out of here. Kree reinforcements will be here soon. Get Thor, and head toward the S.W.O.R.D. station. Make sure you aren’t followed.”

“What about you?” Quill asked.

Carol smirked. “Someone’s gotta clean up this mess.” She didn’t feel like explaining to Quill why capturing Yon-Rogg was important. The last thing she needed was all of the Guardians knowning that history.

Quill apparently accepted this explanation, because he nodded and ran off toward the Benatar. She watched for a moment as they took off, trying to quiet a nagging voice of worry. The Guardians could take care of themselves, to be sure, but they held a lot of high value targets. What if they were followed? Now she almost wished she had said something. Well, nothing to be done now. She needed to find Yon-Rogg and destroy the station as quickly as possible.

She wasn’t surprised that they had missed him; when she found him he was partly buried under Kree who had no doubt died to protect him. The earlier blow he’d taken to the head had apparently rattled him quite a bit, because when she’d pushed the soldiers off of him he’d smiled up at her.

“C’mon,” she said, grabbing roughly him by the arm and hauling him to his feet. She’d be damned if she was going to carry him out of here.

“Vers,” he said dreamily, his eyes not quite focusing on her. “So good to see you.”

She snorted. “You wouldn’t be saying that if you didn’t have a concussion. But at least you won’t be fighting me.”

“Why would I fight you? I love you,” he replied, attempting to lean on her. “I _love_ you _._ ”

Carol rolled her eyes and sidestepped him. At this point she didn’t know what would be worse: Yon fighting her, or this. Grabbing one wrist and then the other, she clapped a pair of manacles on him. “Save it.”

He looked down a the manacles in confusion, but didn’t say anything. It was just as well. She grabbed his arm and began dragging him down the hall. The ship she and Thor had taken to the station still hung on the outside, and if she was lucky it hadn’t been too damaged by Stormbreaker’s exit. If she could put him on it she could send him off to Fury while she destroyed the station.

“You’re taking me captive,” he said after a while, his voice more solid. Apparently he was beginning to come to his senses.

“An astute observation.”

“Whatever you’re planning, it won’t work. The Supreme Intelligence will just build a new station. You think you’ve stopped this, but it’s only a slight delay. The Supreme Intelligence will find you.” She glanced back at him to see an air of superiority gracing his expression. And confidence. So much confidence. Ah yes, this was the Yon-Rogg she knew.

Carol shrugged. “Not before we find it.”

He actually laughed. “Good luck with that. Even _I_ don’t know where the Intelligence is housed.”  
  
“Someone always knows,” she said, grinning wickedly.

She took pleasure in watching as the mirth on his face was replaced by horror. “You can’t,” he replied, practically a whisper.

“I can.”

They had arrived at a hastily patched hole in the exterior wall of the station, and she knew the ship lay outside it. Before he could say anything else, she reached down and triggered his helmet. Then she grabbed the edge of one of the metal sheets covering the hole and wrenched it off the wall, allowing the rush of air to pull them out into space. With Yon-Rogg in tow, she flew toward the S.W.O.R.D. ship still hanging on the station.

All of the air had left cabin long ago and the artificial gravity was off, so they floated around the small ship. Fortunately, it seemed that Yon-Rogg was either too dazed or too weak to fight her because he made no attempts to break loose. Carol let go of the metal sheet for the moment and left it floating beside them. Locating some straps, she forced Yon-Rogg into a chair and began binding him to it so that he couldn’t move. With that completed, she grabbed the metal sheet again and positioned it over the hole that Stormbreaker had left in the ship. The photon beams from her hands served to fuse the metals together. After a while she pushed back and admired her handy work; not bad. It didn’t take long for the ship’s automatic systems to restore an atomosphere to the interior. As she turned on the ship the artifical gravity kicked in again and she could hear several items that had been floating crash to the ground. She programmed in the coordinates and a message as well so that if the ship made it to S.W.O.R.D. before she did they would know what was coming. Finally, she walked over to were Yon-Rogg sat bound in the chair and disenganged his helmet.

“You won’t get away with this,” he said combatively as soon as the mask had disappeared.

Carol tilted her head, then gave it a small shake. “You know, I honestly feel a little bad about what I’m about to do. There are many Kree that are good people. It will be difficult for them, but I will help them regroup and rebuild once it’s done. Once they are finally free.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing!” he replied, more frantically this time.

“I do know,” Carol said, checking his bindings once again. “Unlike anyone else who has ever tried to defeat you, I know, and the irony is that it’s because you showed me everything. You created your own downfall, and all you had to do to prevent it was… not be assholes. I might have never known what you really were.” She could hear the bitterness in her own voice as she thought of what might have been. It was too terrible to dwell on for long.

Yon-Rogg just gaped at her, apparently unable to come up with a reply. She took the opportunity to depart the ship, leaving through the airlock. After a few seconds the grappling system disengaged and the ship shot off toward the nearest jump point.

By this point, Kree were streaming off the station with no one to stem the flow. As she walked through the halls it was eerily quiet, and she wondered if anyone was left. She headed purposefully toward the main nuclear power generator for the station. Simply overloading it would do what she needed: to completely destroy the vast structure.

****

The Benatar’s holding cells were full of Kree prisoners, but Thor had insisted that Rhea not be kept there. Despite the fact that she was a Kree, despite the fact that she was an enemy, he still felt bad about what he had done. So one of the Guardians had locked her in Thor’s old room, for lack of a better space; the room that he’d shared with Carol, and the room that he hadn’t used for weeks.

After several jumps away from the Kree station, and after it became clear that they were not being followed, everyone relaxed slightly. Quill put on some music and the others began moving around the ship, putting away weapons that had been dropped in a hurry in their flight from the station. Thor fidgeted with Stormbreaker, unable to keep from worrying about Carol. Logically, he knew she’d be fine and could take care of herself, but that didn’t calm his nerves.

“Don’t ya wanna go check on our new passenger, Quill?” he heard Rocket taunt. “She seemed taken with you.”

Quill sputtered. “Pshaw, you’re just mad that you didn’t get to capture her. Not that it’s a privilege or something.” Thor looked over at the group of them and could see Quill glancing constantly at Gamora, who looked a bit flustered herself.

“I don’t go in for Kree chicks,” Rocket shot back.

“Yeah, not enough fur, right?”

“As a matter of fact, yes,” the raccoon replied, arms crossed in front of his chest. “An’ also the homicidal tendancies.”

“Rhea doesn’t have any homicidal tendancies,” Thor said, standing up and walking toward the rooms. Someone probably _should_ check on her, and it probably should be him.

“And just how would you know that?” Nebula asked, one eyebrow cocked with interest.

Thor paused for a moment, still facing the door. He could feel the stares of all the Guardians on his back. “That is none of your concern.” Before anyone could reply he walked out of sight.

When he arrived at the door to the room he hesitated for a moment. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. On the other hand, he couldn’t shake the guilt. He owed her an explanation. Eventually he grabbed the key hanging near the door and unlocked the large lock they had fitted onto the outside of it.

The room seemed just like he had left it, which he supposed wasn’t too surprising. None of the Guardians would have any cause to come in here. The closet door was partially open, and he could see his and Carol’s clothing hanging inside. He wondered what was next for them, and whether they’d ever stay in this room again. It seemed unlikely.

His attention was brought back to the present as he saw Rhea sitting in a chair, her wrists and ankles bound to it. She didn’t look too worse for the wear, except for the fact that her nose looked swollen. Somehow he didn’t think it was responsible for the look of pain on her face and he felt guilty all over again. He had come in here to talk to her, but now he didn’t know what to say.

“You’re name’s not really Oh-Din,” she said quietly, breaking the silence.

“No, it’s not.”

She was quiet again, and then asked, “You’re him, aren’t you? You’re… you’re Thor.” He nodded slightly. He could see her swallow hard. “Was any of it real? Did you have any… feelings for me?” she choked out.

“Rhea, you’d be a great catch for anyone. But I… I’m in love with someone else.”

She looked away. “I am such an idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot. A whole station of Kree didn’t figure out who I was,” he pointed out.

Rhea gave a short, humorless laugh, then stayed silent. The bindings were clearly abrading her wrists, so he walked over and bent down to untie them.

“Let me get those off of you,” he said.

When he touched her arm she jerked away as if burned, but the bindings wouldn’t let her go far. “You don’t have to pretend to be nice to me,” she muttered bitterly.

Thor grimaced but finished removing the bindings. “You may not believe me, but I am sorry. You didn’t deserve that. You know, I’ve done so many terrible things in war. Killed thousands of foes. I’ve never regretted them. This, I regret. I wish it could have been any other way.” He stood back, but she didn’t move.

“I believe you,” she whispered eventually, not meeting his gaze. When she did look up at him, there were tears in her eyes. “Why?”

“The Supreme Intelligence must be stopped,” he said simply, leaning back against a wall. He knew she wouldn’t understand, but she deserved to know.

She looked confused. “Stopped from what? Saving people from their miserable existance? Giving them better lives?”

“Is that what you think the Intelligence has you doing? Saving people? Rhea, the Kree don’t rule. They enslave people. They pursue rebels across galaxies and delight in punishing anyone who dares stand against them.”

“No,” she said vehemently, shaking her head. “We bring peace and prosperity to uncivilized systems!”

Thor sighed, and pulled out a small holo. “Look, if you don’t believe me.” The device contained photos and video pulled from the security feeds of the prison ship he’d been captive on. They had pulled them before destroying the ship, thinking that they might come in useful.

Hesitantly, Rhea reached out and began swiping through the photos projected in front of her. Her eyes went wide as she looked at images of children and helpless prisoners beaten within an inch of their lives. “What is this?” she asked, her voice barely audible.

“A Kree prison ship.”

She shook her head again. “This can’t be real, it’s a trick…” Her voice cut off as she stopped at an image, her hand shaking. Tearing her eyes away from the photo, she looked up at him. “This is you.”

Thor peered over to the holo and saw a photo of himself, bruised and bloody, slumped against the wall of a cell. It must have been taken only moments before Carol had come blasting through the door.

“I was lucky,” he said. “The Accusers merely imprisoned me instead of killing me on the spot. Well, trying to kill me.”

“This doesn’t prove anything,” she said suddenly, pushing the holo away. “Your people killed hundreds of Kree on the station.”

“Soldiers killing soldiers,” he retorted, leaving out the fact that the Guardians weren’t exactly soldiers. “These are civilians! Children! These people committed no crime but wanting to be free.” She didn’t respond this time, looking at the floor. He kneeled down next to her and placed one of his hands over hers. “Rhea, it’s not the Kree. Not really. Every people has their bad apples. But this? This is the doing of one evil being. The Supreme Intelligence holds your people captive too, carrying out it’s nefarious plots.”

She looked up at him, horror on her face. “No, it can’t be. The Supreme Intelligence always knows what’s best.”  
  
“Best for itself, not you,” Thor insisted. “No just ruler kills innocents. Makes their _people_ kill innocents.”

He felt everything shift as they went through another jump. They would be arriving at the S.W.O.R.D. station soon. Grabbing the holo, he stood up. Rhea still sat limply in the chair, the anguish and conflict evident on her face.

“Think about it, will you?” he asked, stopping in front of the door. “Think about all of the things you were asked to do. Think about the people you were asked to conquer. Ask yourself if you really believe it was the right thing.” Then he turned and left.


End file.
